False Pretences
by ForeverH0pe
Summary: She had made a promise to Alex, she told her she would always protect her. So what happens when you make a promise that you just cant keep? Nikita finds herself torn between her mission and her partners safety when Alex is injured in the line of duty. With Alex's involvement at Division becoming increasingly more dangerous, can they manage to bring down the agency once and for all?
1. Finding Home

**Well hello there. **

**I'm guessing, since this is the only fanfiction that I'm currently working on, that it wont be too hard for you to figure out that I'm new here. This will be my first attempt at writing anything like this, so please, play nice alright?**

**Seriously, as far as my English goes, I think I'm doing alright. You see, I'm from Ukraine, although I live in England I'm not really from around here so if anything goes a little weird then please bear with me, I'm trying. Positive feedback would be nice, but I guess that's up to you :-)**

**This is set while Alex was inside Division, before Michel discovered that she was the mole. I wanted it to be based purely on Nikita and Alex as I think sometimes the writers of the show neglect to remember how this show first started, with only Alex by Nikita's side.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita, nor it's characters. I just borrow them for your enjoyment and of course, my writing addiction. _

**On with the story – enjoy. **

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**False Pretences - Chapter One.**

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Dark eyes peered carefully through steamed up glass, their gaze falling down to the flooded street below. Silently, they took in everything, from the rain pounding down on the pavement, to it's relentless lashing against her own window.

Nikita shivered, marvelling how cold the room had become around her. Rubbing her hands quickly against her bare arms, she attempted to create a little friction and warm herself slightly. Releasing a soft sigh, she forced herself to look away from the rain, tearing her eyes from the depressing darkness outside.

Retreating backwards, she found herself mindlessly wander across the room to her computer. With cold hands, she cautiously moved the pointer, causing the screen to light itself and reveal what had been sitting there a few hours previously – absolutely nothing.

Brushing her long dark hair backwards, she sighed harder, it was one of frustration and perhaps a little tiredness mingled together. She couldn't help but let her mind wander a little. It had been three days since she had last heard from her partner. Three days since Alex had been dispatched on another Division mission. It was perhaps the longest she had ever gone without hearing the soft vocals of the younger girl ring around her head. Even if it was just her animated voice talking through her computer screen, it had become part of her day to day lifestyle and she felt a little lost without the reassurance there.

She was starting to get a little worried. Not for the fact she didn't trust Alex to take care of herself, she did. Hell, Alex could watch not only her own back but Nikita's too if she put her mind to it. Not that the young Russian would ever find herself in such a situation, not on Nikita's watch. Nikita shivered harder at the thoughts running through her head. Wrapping her arms closer around her body, she tried not to let any situation randomly fly through her mind. Perhaps Alex was just in deeper this time, maybe she had no way to get any sort of communication together – perhaps something had happened to stop her.

No, Nikita shook the thoughts from her head violently, Alex would always find a way, she had taught her everything she could and more. Alex had picked up her own set of skills, some neat tips and tricks that even Nikita hadn't yet learnt. The truth was, Alex's head was fixed firmly to her shoulders . She had been a fast learner, smart beyond her young years and more than capable of improvising where and when she needed to. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that rose above her like a dark cloud. Her protectiveness just wouldn't leave, ever since she had carried the young Alexandra in her arms away from her burning home, from her dead family, she had been responsible. Responsible from the moment she had left Alex in the hands of a stranger, with his reassurance of her safety.

She could still remember how pale her skin had looked, her body frail and weakened by the fire.

Everything that had happened since then had been her fault, it all weighed heavy on her shoulders and Alex's past had come back to haunt them both. That's why she drove herself to find the younger woman, if she could have just found her, safe and sound, she truly believed her life would have held some sort of meaning, that she was capable of something other than death and destruction.

She had kept her promise, she had found Alex, after months and months of hard work. It wasn't however, exactly how she planned on finding the young Russian heiress. She had found a broken young woman, haunted by the ghosts of her past and driven into the darkness of a bleak future. She had fallen into drugs to block out the pains of her past. It didn't give Nikita much pride in finding her, it just gave her a mission to strive towards.

So she had cleaned Alex up, offered her a home, as safe and secure as she could make it. She had trained her hard, upon Alex's request. Not for the vengeance that Alex sought, but for the knowledge that she would be able to take care of herself, should a situation ever arise where she would need to.

She had thrown Alex into her own past, into helping her take down Division from the inside out. Combined with the need of finding who murdered her family, Alex had gladly put herself in the firing line. For what? For some self contained mission of revenge that Nikita herself needed to complete to fight her own ghosts.

She still regretted watching the younger girl walk out of that door, because the truth was – she needed Alex, just as much as Alex needed her.

With those thoughts running through her head, the soft sound of a door latch clicking caught the edge of her hearing. With her mind wandering she hadn't noticed any footsteps, but then again combined with the pouring rain outside it would have perhaps been almost impossible to hear them. She knew she should have been safe here, that not many people knew of her location yet she couldn't help but let caution run through every vein in her body.

Quickly, she dropped her hands from her bare arms and lurched forwards, elegantly and cleanly receiving her gun from the nearby computer table.

With a satisfying click, she released the safety with the reassurance of a full clip of ammunition to unload. She raised the weapon high, into her line of vision as she had done many times before, focusing her eyes on aiming down it's short barrel.

Cautiously, she stood still, only allowing her ribcage to move in a steady rhythm, releasing a feeling of calm through her bloodstream.

The latch rattled once more, almost feebly, yet it swung free of it's restraints, allowing the door to creep open just a few millimetres. Nikita tightened the grip around her weapon, her knuckles turning a light shade as she gripped the hard metal beneath her fingers. She took a silent step forwards, bracing herself in case it swung open violently and whoever was hiding behind it took up aim against her.

Her hands held steady, her weapon never dropping from the point she had fixed it to. Carefully, she stepped forwards once more, her heartbeat quickening. She paused just before she reached the handle, exercising caution. Listening intently, she caught the steady sound of uneven breathing from behind it's cover.

Still cautious, yet with just as steady a hand, she dropped one hand from her weapon, holding it still with the other. Reaching down for the door handle, she held her breath for a moment before pulling it open and grasping her gun with two hands once more, aiming it directly towards the figure on the other side.

"Nikita... Wait..."

With a surprised gasp, the assassin dropped her gun downwards, away from any point on her targets body. Instead, she let it fall from her grasp completely. It echoed around the hall as it tapped out a falling rhythm against the wood floor below. Her breath caught in her throat before she gathered herself up enough to speak.

"Alex?" she whispered, taking a small step forwards. Her eyes took in the scene before her and memories shot back through her mind. Memories of a younger woman, slumped pale and lifeless on her floor after trying to take her own life. The same feeling flew through her, forced a drumming beat from her heart in panic.

She looked just as pale, her now longer hair tangled forwards, casting a shadow across her delicate features as she used the wall to support her body weight.

Nikita's eyes shot downwards, towards where Alex's hands were positioned over her ribcage, a steady flow of crimson just visible through her pale hands in the dim light.

For a brief moment Nikita was transfixed to the spot, until the younger girl swayed forwards, stumbling a step towards her. Then she moved and her hands were quickly offered out in support. Nikita grasped her shoulders tightly, her gun now forgotten and still on the ground. Whatever precautions she had felt about safety had long since diminished, leaving nothing but worry in their wake.

She felt Alex lean towards her and she instantly let her use her body to stay on her feet. Wrapping one arm around her waist, Nikita lead a steady path forwards, Alex stumbling along next to her, seemingly incapable of keeping herself upright.

She managed to get the young Russian just inside the room before she slumped backwards, her back finding the cold wall. When her knees buckled beneath her, Nikita was ready. She carefully lowered her to the floor, trying her hardest not to damage the girl before her further. Alex drew in a sharp breath as her ribcage twisted, scrunching her face into a look of pain, she released the pressure on her side quickly. Nikita saw the blood flow faster,and instantly placed her hands on top of Alex's, stemming the stream once more. It was with that gentle touch that she noticed just how cold the other girls skin was, her body trembling beneath her finger tips.

"Alex, what happened?" she whispered, reaching up to brush Alex's wet hair backwards. Of course, it was still pouring outside, and the younger girl's clothes were also soaked through. She let her hand linger briefly on her cold cheek and for the second time her eyes automatically scanned her for signs of ailments. Bar the obvious, she also had a poppy red bruise across her forehead, with a slight gash hi-lighting it's significance. Alex's lip was split, evidence of a struggle and Nikita's worried eyes also took in the shade of blue they had become.

"The mission... Didn't go as planned..." Alex gasped, her voice shaky and reflecting how cold she was feeling. Nikita nodded reassuringly before placing her hands back over Alex's.

"Keep pressure on that for me." she instructed. Jumping to her feet she found them sprinting towards the sink, to where fresh white towels were housed in a cupboard below. She tried to keep her emotions in check as she grabbed them and looked back to the sorry sight of the young Division agent on the floor. She needed to get Alex to a bed and take a proper look at that wound. If she had been shot, the bullet would need removing – she grimaced at the painful thought.

Running back, she skidded to a halt, instantly on her knees beside Alex. She fumbled with her own shaking hands as she carefully removed Alex's hands from her side. Straight away, blood mingled with water as the pressure was released and she hastened the towel over her wound. She found herself almost relieved when she noted that it didn't look like a bullet wound, more like a laceration from some kind of knife. At least it spared the un-pleasantries of bullet removal, it didn't however make the situation any less serious. She just hoped that it hadn't hit anything major. She couldn't lose Alex, she just couldn't.

She heard a quick intake of breath through Alex's gritted teeth as she pressed down hard against her ribcage. Alex twitched beneath her touch, trying to force her body backwards out the way of the pain, only to be met with the wall. She writhed a little more and Nikita had to press a little harder to keep a steady contact.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Alex but I need to stop this bleeding..." Nikita whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

"It's alright..." Alex whispered, trying to flash a small smile through her pained voice. Nikita looked straight beyond it, only noticing the pain hiding behind her shocking blue eyes. She felt a strong pang of guilt at the trust behind the younger woman's words, even as she was here, desperately bleeding out on Nikita's floor her body screamed submission.

"Do you think you can stand?" Nikita asked, her voice a little more urgent. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she couldn't stay calm right now. A sudden flashback of Daniel crossed her mind and she had to forcefully suppress it from her head.

Alex nodded her response, mustering what little strength she had left.

"Here, keep this pressed on." Nikita encouraged, nodding towards the now blood red towel. Alex obeyed and soon found Nikita's strong, yet lithe arms around her shaking body. Trying not to scream out as pain ripped through her. She let Nikita do much of the leg work, raising her up off the floor. As soon as she stood, she felt her head spin and her knees threaten once more. She swayed a little and Nikita was forced to place her arms firmly around her waist to keep her upright. She couldn't help but let out a small whimper escape her lips. To her cold body, her wound was as hot as fire and every time she moved a shooting sensation shot down her side.

"I'm sorry..." she heard Nikita whisper, apologising for the pain she had just caused. Alex shook her head, it didn't hurt as much with Nikita by her side, she had nothing to be sorry for. Either that or Alex just found a little more strength when she was close, the more she thought about it the more she realised it was probably the latter.

Slowly, with every step becoming a stumble, Nikita managed to guide Alex over to her own bed. Lowering her down gently, she encouraged the other girl to swing her legs upwards, earning her another small grimace. She had to hand it to her, Alex was tougher than she looked, not many people would be so co-operative when it came to injuries like these.

She was well aware of the need to get Alex into something warm and dry, the longer she had been out in the rain, wearing just a small white tank top and jeans with her level of blood loss, the higher the risk of hypothermia setting in was.

"Alex, listen to me this is really important. I need to know how you got this," she nodded to her side, "and I need to know how long ago." she pressed her hands down again on top of Alex's as the young agent tried to lift the towel to look at her wound.

"I guess it's pretty bad then huh?" she choked out, her voice vibrating as a shiver shot through her body and through Nikita's hands.

"It's bad enough..." the older woman whispered, removing one hand from the towel to reach up again and run her hand down Alex's cheek, leaving behind an accidental streak of crimson. Alex gave her a small smile, before closing her eyes at the touch.

"Alex!" Nikita's harsh voice caused them to fly open once more.

"You cant close your eyes, you cant sleep on me you hear?" she ignored the quickened pace she had felt through her heart when Alex's eyes had fluttered to a close. Alex nodded, trying to force herself a little more vertical to stop the feeling. Nikita's strong hand found her shoulder and kept her pinned there, shaking her head.

"I'm going to need you to stay still for a minute, I need to take a look at your wound Alex and you cant move..." Nikita's words were apologetic, sympathetic even. She had been here before, balanced on the edge of consciousness while someone dug around at her body.

Alex nodded, her eyes full of fear, but also understanding.

"It all happened really fast." she stammered, nodding down at her side.

"I was trailing a guy, an arms dealer co-ordinating with a well-known Russian mob boss. Division had sent me on a surveillance mission, it was supposed to be no contact and I was only supposed to be there to observe. Just a couple of blocks from here..." she paused for a minute, scrunching her face back up into a grimace as the words she spoke forced her ribcage to move. Nikita squeezed her shoulder lightly in reassurance.

"He was over here? What, selling weapons?" she asked, encouraging Alex to keep talking, while she gently lifted the towel to take a look at her wound. Alex bit down on her lip, ignoring the shooting sensation. She nodded her answer.

"He was linked with my fathers company, at least that's what I found out. I guess I didn't really believe it until I saw with my own eyes the money changing hands. I didn't truly think that my father could have worked with anyone that bad..." her eyes welled up with tears and she grasped Nikita's arm as the older woman pressed her fingers lightly against one side of her wound.

"Of course, I couldn't tell Division, not the whole story. So I simply told them what I'd seen, a US weapons dealer selling stock to a Russian mob boss."

"What happened then?" Nikita asked, listening intently but leaving her eyes transfixed to Alex's side.

"They asked me to intercept. I was supposed to retrieve the list of ordered weapons from him before he had the chance to get them together." Alex sighed, remembering what had happened next.

"Something went wrong, it was supposed to be a simple pick-pocket, but I guess I must have been careless. The next thing I know, I'm slammed against a wall and there's a guy with a gun in my back." Nikita looked back up at her protégée, her eyes narrowing at the thought of Alex in danger. She gave her a softer expression as a tear managed to slide it's way down Alex's pale face.

"I've never felt so helpless Nikita. Even at Division, fighting recruits. I forgot everything you taught me about counter attacks. I'd let him get a hold on me before I even knew it, he was so strong, he must have weighed at least two of me." her voice broke slightly at the concentrated look on her mentor's face.

"Hey now, Alex... You didn't get time to think about your next move, don't beat yourself up about it, it happens. We cant be robots all the time. Sometimes it's easy to forget what you've been taught. In a situation like that, we don't have a manual to look up to..." Nikita mentally kicked herself, perhaps she should have focused on Alex's training a little more, maybe there had been something she had missed, some weakness. Maybe Alex wasn't really ready for all of this.

"So I kicked out, I panicked Nikita, I felt like I just had to get away. I haven't felt that helpless since I was a recruit." She snorted at herself in disgust. How weak did she seem right now, in front of the toughest person she knew.

"I managed to throw him off, I grabbed the gun and tossed it. He was fast for his size, we scuffled around for a while until he pulled a flick-knife... You can probably figure out the rest of the story..." she whispered, her eyes falling from Nikita's narrowed ones.

"When?" Nikita whispered, running her hand gently across the pressure bruise that had already started to form on Alex's ribcage.

"Two hours, roughly I think." Alex replied with a shaking voice, trying her hardest not to look back up, if she looked back into Nikita's swimming eyes she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her own emotions in check, she was so very tired it was becoming increasingly harder to keep herself composed.

"Two hours? Alex, why did you wait so long?" Nikita's voice highlighted her shock. If Alex had only been a couple of blocks away, why hadn't she come straight here?

"I had to make sure he didn't follow me. After he stabbed me, there was no pain, not at first. Just adrenaline." Alex fought to keep her eyes open, they desperately wanted to allow her to succumb to slumber.

"I managed to get away, he went down and didn't get up, but Nikita, I know I didn't kill him. I couldn't risk being followed here, that would have put you in danger too... So I waited a while made sure I covered my tracks..."

A realisation suddenly hit the younger girl.

"Oh god, what happens if he did manage to follow me?" she said quickly, taking the opportunity to try and sit up once more. She managed to get halfway vertical before her head spun once more.

"Alex, please, stay still." Nikita whispered, trying to hold her steady.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think. I shouldn't have come here, Nikita what happens if he comes back? It would put you in danger too!"

"Shh, Alex." Nikita soothed, she knew it was half panicked, tired ramblings that caused Alex's head to fill with fear, for her mind to automatically imagine the worst situation. At least she had thought of it though, Nikita hadn't let the thought cross her mind since she found her partner bleeding out, she had better and bigger things to worry about right now. Bigger than a simple weapons dealer and even bigger than Division itself. Besides, Alex seemed to have forgotten who she was talking to, if he showed his face anywhere near this apartment Nikita couldn't promise she wouldn't put a bullet through his skull.

"It's alright, I promise your safe here. If he gets as far as here, I'll deal with it. Alex, I'd rather you be here, safe, than being poked and prodded by some Division agents..." Nikita couldn't help but swallow the lump in her throat, Division could send someone for all she cared, she would always protect Alex.

"I shouldn't be here..." Alex whispered, Nikita pushing her tired body back down onto the bed.

"Alex, listen to me. This is your home, no matter what happens, I'll always protect you." Now it was Nikita's turn to look away, a lone tear falling. She had failed her, it hit her like a speeding train. Where had she been to protect Alex while she was being knifed, lying in some street trying to cover Nikita's own back?

Standing up, she tore her eyes away completely, disgusted at herself for what had happened. She hadn't kept her promise at all, she had already failed her on that. If anyone was to blame for what had happened it certainly wouldn't have been Alex, it wasn't even Division. It was hers and this suicide mission that she had sent the one person she truly cared about on. She wiped furiously at her cheek. She didn't even have the right to cry, if anyone was being strong right now it was the girl laying before her with a knife wound to her torso.

"This is my fault Alex, not yours." she whispered, burying her face into rummaging around another cupboard, trying to locate her medical supplies. To start with, she didn't even think Alex had heard her, until the stubborn young woman half sat herself upright again, a completely confused expression on her face.

"I got you into all this and I'm sorry. I didn't want this life for you, not like this. It's my mission, not yours. Now it's you paying for it." She choked back a sob, kicking herself for feeling so weak. She ran her hand through her hair again, pushing it backwards in frustration. She found her item of interest and turned back to Alex.

"Nikita, your blaming yourself?" Alex said, perhaps a little harsher than she intended, she had never seen her mentor so broken up before.

"I wouldn't have a life if it wasn't for you, let alone a home. Nikita, you are my life, all of this, it's what I wanted. I asked you to train me, it's not your fault that I messed up..." She placed her body back down as a dizzy feeling overcame her.

Nikita fell silent, perhaps Alex just couldn't see the façade her life had become, either that or she just didn't want to accept it. While she was in Division, away from where Nikita could stay with her, there would always be a danger there that the older assassin had ignored until now. Alex had never been hurt this badly before, she needed to find a way to keep her safe but while she was inside Division walls, Nikita was helplessly left on the outside. She sighed as she walked back over to the bed, a needle and thread held firmly in her hands.

This was going to be even harder.

She looked down sympathetically as Alex's eyes fell upon her, and then down to the needle. The young Russian nodded, understanding what Nikita had to do, it wouldn't be the first time she had seen the older woman stitch a wound, it would however be the first time she had to endure the needle through her own skin.

Nikita was satisfied that Alex's wound hadn't hit anything major, she would be able to patch her up and hopefully with some rest and time Alex would be fine – this time anyway.

"Alex, I'm sorry, I'm going to need you to stay as still as possible for me." she said quietly. Alex nodded, reaching up a pale hand to grasp the side of Nikita's shirt as she sat down next to her. She just needed the comfort of being close to her and perhaps this wouldn't hurt as much.

She bit down on her lip as Nikita unravelled the thread, she let her eyes fall across the assassin's worried features. Nikita looked up at her once more and Alex nodded her encouragement.

"This is going to hurt Alex..."

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	2. At What Cost?

**Hi there guys! **

**Wow! What a reception on my first chapter, I never imagined I would receive the kind of support that you guys have given me so far. I want to thank you all for your kind words on my English, I'm glad that none of you have found too many reportable mistakes but please, if you do, don't hesitate to tell me alright? I can only improve after all. **

**I also wanted to say thank you for the anonymous reviews I've been receiving too, even though I cant drop you all a PM like I can the rest of you, know that your words mean a lot too. For everyone else, I really do try and get my thanks across and do try to reply to everyone's reviews.**

**Also, thank you to everyone that had favourited and added this to their story alerts, I really hope you continue to follow it's progress!**

**Anyway, on with the story, here's part two.**

**Enjoy.**

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_False Pretences – Chapter Two. _

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With shaking hands, Nikita dropped the small scrubbing brush down into the bucket next to her, trying to ignore what a horrible shade of red the water had turned. Even through the soft bubbles of washing up liquid it stained the floor, the brush she was holding and the worst part – her hands.

She plucked it back out of the water, her grip across the handle hard enough to turn her knuckles white. She desperately scrubbed at the floor beneath her aching knees, her elbows screaming out in protest at all the hammer they were receiving. She needed to do this now, she couldn't just sit around, she had to busy herself doing something, she just wished that it hadn't been this.

With a sorry sigh, she wiped at the sweat across her brow with annoyance, sitting back on her heels and stretching out her back. Even though the room was still deathly cold, she had managed to work her tired body up into a sweat, focusing all of her energy on removing Alex's blood from her floor.

She threw the brush back into the bucket in frustration, spraying the floor behind it with the same murky water all over again. She didn't like the feeling of helplessness that was flowing through her veins, never before had she thought that she had gotten in too deep, that she couldn't control the situation around her. Not until now.

Looking up, her eyes fell upon the doorway where she had stood a few hours before, balancing Alex's limp weight on her body. Suddenly, she remembered the gun she had left exposed outside her door. It was the same weapon she had pointed at Alex in her moment of insecurity. Sighing, she raised herself off the ground, ignoring the dead feeling in both her legs. She swayed for a moment waiting for the blood flow to return sensation back into them. How long had she been knelt down here? She couldn't really remember. What she did know was that it had stopped raining, at least for the best part, her still open curtains and the unnerving, creeping silence told her that much. The open curtains also informed her that night had set in, after what had seemed like such an endless afternoon.

She made her way slowly towards the door, almost dragging herself across to open it. She tried her hardest not to let her eyes linger too long on the wall where Alex had slumped. She ignored the churning feeling in her gut at the sight of more blood, brought about by Alex's own stained hands earlier. She wasn't usually a squeamish person, especially when it came to blood, she had spilled enough of it in the past, not only from the wounds of people she had killed but also from herself, but tonight seemed to be testing the strength she had in her stomach.

She bent down hastily to pick up her weapon. Leaving a loaded, ready to shoot pistol outside on her doorstep probably wasn't such a good idea right now.

Walking back into the room she scooted past the bloodstained wall and slammed the door behind her, bolting it across. It maybe wasn't wise to leave that unlocked either.

With tired eyes, she looked over to her bed, taking in the sight of a slumbering Alex. Even from here, she could see the covers moving with a steady rhythm of breathing. A flash of relief shot across her face at knowing that Alex was finally safe. Well, out of current danger anyway.

She leant against the wall dejectedly, sliding herself down until she felt the floor come up beneath her, much like Alex had the evening before. Tilting her head back, she let her eyes gently close, her subconscious wandering back to what had happened tonight.

Alex had been so brave, even with the pain of a needle pricking her skin, the younger girl hadn't moved, not once. Every time Nikita drew blood, every time Alex gripped her shirt tighter for comfort and taken in a sharp intake of breath through her gritted teeth had been torturous to hear. It was such a relief when she had finished stitching and no more blood had run from Alex's side. Finding her a warm, dry set of clothes, Nikita had let the girl sleep, satisfied that she would wake up again. It had been a close call, any more time out there on her own could have made things end up so much differently for Alex. She shivered at the thought, pushing it away.

Nikita placed her head forwards into her hands, her fingers locking in her dark hair and supporting it's weight. She brought her knees up to her chest, she was tired, more so than she had been for a long time. She let her hazel eyes slowly close, breathing out an exhausted sigh. She found comfort in Alex's soft breathing from across the room, letting her life signs gently lull her off into sleep.

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_Her bright eyes flew open suddenly, her senses urgently alight to something that wasn't quite right. She quickly sat bolt upright, her eyes meeting with a sort of thick, dark fog. Taking in a panicked breath, she choked on how thick the air around her had become. It was a familiar feeling. She couldn't move, smoke resided in the air around her like a toxin, immobilising her muscles in fear and uncertainty. _

_A young Alexandra Udinov tried not to shout out, her breath catching once more and releasing nothing but an inaudible whimper. Her lungs burned with a terrible lack of oxygen, her eyes beginning to sting and water violently. She moved her limbs in a panicked pattern, adrenaline overcoming her fear and forcing her muscles to comply with her wishes. She desperately threw the bed covers from her hot skin. The room around her was almost completely alien, she couldn't see anything through the swirling smoke around her, only feel where things should be. She closed her eyes, desperately trying to picture the layout of her room in her head. Coughing violently, she rolled herself sideways, feeling the edge of the bed vanish beneath her, plummeting her body down to the hard floor, even more air dissipating from her aching lungs. _

_She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. Desperately she tried to shout out once more, calling for anyone, her mother, her father, yet no sound would come. _

_She scrambled to her feet, panic washing over her body like water. Sweat dripped from her brow, dropping down and soaking through her shirt, making her skin burn with the temperature even more. She stumbled in the direction of the door, a light just visible through the gap between it's frame and the hinges. _

_Reaching out urgently, she grasped the door handle, pulling it ever so slightly ajar. She recoiled her hand quickly, pain shooting through her skin. She looked down at her hand, tears stinging at her sore eyes, combining with the smoke damage that already resided there. The skin across her palm was red and angry, obviously burned badly. She cupped her arm to her chest, ignoring her shaking limbs she looked back to where the door had slightly opened. Her bright blue eyes danced with fire as flames reflected through her tears. Heat shot towards her face like a bullet and she forced herself to take a step back away from her escape route, still cradling her injured hand._

_With nothing else to do, she scanned her room for anything she might use, any possible way of escaping the inferno her room was fast becoming. She looked over to her bed, her eyes desperately seeking the darkness underneath. Running towards it, she quickly threw herself below, like she had done many times before. The cloud of smoke disappeared somewhat whilst she was closer to the floor, the heat dissipating a little to give her lungs a slight breather. She took in a quick breath of air, causing her chest to ache in surprise. _

_From there, she peered out from under it's wooden legs, her heart beating out a rhythm as if she had just completed a marathon. Her breathing came in gasps, half through panic and half through lack of oxygen._

_The young Alexandra Udinov brought her arms up to cover her head, a feeling of claustrophobia overcoming her as the smoke started to creep under to her hiding place. Her door swung open quickly, hitting the wall behind with a crack. Orange light filled her room as the flames became completely visible. She could hear footsteps following the doors opening, quickly followed by a series of gunshots. She looked upwards, just in time to see the haunting image of a body hitting her bedroom floor – her father. Even his lifeless eyes visible through the smoke._

_With wide eyes, she tried to shuffle backwards further, away from the sights and sounds outside the comfort of her hiding place. She looked on in horror as a set of black boots strode hastily towards where she lay..._

* * *

Alex's eyes flew open in blind panic, instantly looking to the room around her, trying to take in her surroundings. In an almost involuntary movement, she shot her body upwards, trying to get a better view through the darkness.

She grimaced, placing her hand quickly to her side and feeling soft cotton beneath her fingertips. Slowly, she let her breathing calm down a little, her chest heaving just a little bit less. She peered downwards at her torso, lifting her shirt to reveal a bright white bandage wrapped firmly around her ribcage. It held a slight streak of red to one side, the side of her body that was throbbing angrily at her sudden movements.

As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness around her she was able to make out a little more of her surroundings. It was the same room that she had closed her eyes in earlier, nothing had changed, she was safe.

Breathing out a sigh of relief she ran her hand across her forehead, brushing away what perspiration her vivid dream had brought about. It wasn't uncommon for her to wake up like this, especially not recently. She had begun to have nightmares more frequently, only when her eyes were open was she safe from the flashing images of past memories and even then, a simple thing could bring them around.

She pushed aside what little piece of covers she had managed to keep across her sweating body, grasping her side tighter as she swung her hot legs out into the cold air. She looked down at her skin, it was still a shade of pale, perhaps even more so in the darkness of night. She let her eyes wander over to the bed a few feet away, searching for her constant companion. She furrowed her brow in puzzlement when she realised it was empty, just the way it had been left last night.

She sighed deeply, Nikita probably didn't sleep at all last night.

Forcing her wobbly legs to bear her weight was a task to itself. She had to grasp the edge railing of the bed quickly to stop them giving out beneath her. She probably shouldn't have been on her feet at all yet, at least that's what Nikita would tell her, but her throat was dry and sharp. She eyed up the nearest steel mug she could find, laying next to the little white water bowser Nikita always kept filled.

Slowly, she forced her reluctant feet forwards, finding that once she was used to the dizzy sensation she felt a little sturdier on her legs. Filling the cup she quickly downed the water, her throat instantly freeing up.

With a feeling of relief she placed it back down on the table, looking around the room once more. Her eyes fell to a familiar figure by the door. She rolled her eyes at the sight, Nikita never did do anything the easy way.

Walking slowly across, she suddenly felt wide awake. In fact, as her limbs freed up she was surprised how much she could really move around. Alright, she didn't want to be doing acrobatics, but it was a start. She heard the other woman's soft breathing before she reached her and she instantly knew that Nikita was sound asleep. She felt a sudden pang of guilt as her eyes fell upon the bucket of water positioned not too far from Nikita's slumbering form. She had obviously been trying to clean up the destruction that Alex had left in her wake, she never could sit still, especially when something was weighing heavy on her mind. Alex knew her, she would still be blaming herself right now even if she didn't show it, the world always seemed to weigh heavy on her.

Walking closer, she reached a hand down to Nikita's shoulder.

"Nikita, hey..." she whispered gently. She was surprised that she hadn't already woken the older woman with her dream, they usually ended up with her screaming out one thing or another and Nikita always had a way of knowing when Alex needed her support.

Nikita's eyes shot open at the touch and she flinched, moving her body forwards with a burst of sudden adrenaline and placing a well-aimed sweep kick to Alex's knees. She shot to her feet quickly, her hands raising up into a fighting position before her.

Alex shouted out in pain and surprise as her body hit the floor hard, instantly she curled over to her side, trying to stop the stabbing sensation re-shooting to her ribcage. That was unexpected, memories flooded back to her combat training with Nikita, she had been in this position often, just with quite not so much pain to one side of her body.

Nikita's eyes widened with horror when they finally focused and her heartbeat slowed down in her chest, realising what she had just done. Dropping her defensive position she threw herself down next to Alex, her hands reaching out to the young Russian in worry.

"Alex! What were you doing on your feet?" she exclaimed, placing her hand on Alex's abdomen as the younger girl gingerly sat back up.

"Me? What were you doing on the floor?!" Alex coughed in surprise, grabbing her side once more.

"I... I guess..."

"You fell asleep right?" Alex sighed, reaching her hand up for Nikita to help her off the floor. Nikita took it carefully, a sorry look on her face. Hauling the other girl to her feet, she kept one hand attached to her waist, just in case.

"Man, how many times do you have to kick my ass to the floor?" Alex joked, grimacing again. She earned herself a stern look from her mentor, who steered her back towards the bed.

"I'm sorry Alex I..."

"Thought I was an enemy, right?" Alex snorted, gently sitting herself on the edge of the bed, Nikita relaxing her grip ever so slightly. She still kept a little contact however, a gentle touch on Alex's arm, almost as if she was worried the younger girl would disappear if she let go.

"You and them damn ninja senses..."

"Alex..." Nikita warned, giving her a 'thats-not-funny-i-could-have-really-hurt-you' look.

"I know, I know." Alex rolled her eyes, "I was joking Sensei, you were out like a light back there." Alex looked up to her worryingly.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" she coaxed gently. Nikita never was one for sharing things.

"What do you thinks going on in my head Alex?" she whispered, her voice suddenly cold. Alex looked a little taken aback at it's harshness and she sighed, toning it down a little.

"Alex, I could have lost you last night..." she said solemnly.

"But you didn't.." Alex stated, looking herself up and down as Nikita's eyes filled with tears. Suddenly, Alex had to swallow the lump in her own throat.

"Your not getting all emotional on me now are you Sensei?" Alex asked, earning herself just a small smile from the assassin. She liked it when Nikita smiled, it meant everything was as it should be. The smile didn't last for long however, it wasn't many seconds before the sombre look returned to her features.

"Listen, Nikita. I'm still here, this mission it's opened my eyes to a few things. One, I should have listened to you more in training and maybe all of this wouldn't have happened and two, you were right, I'm not sure I can do this. I mean, if I stall again, things might not work out so well next time." Alex said, letting her eyes dart over to the door where Nikita had dragged her in last night, she closed her eyes, beginning to wish she hadn't come here, perhaps Nikita wouldn't be blaming herself then. After all, she couldn't watch her on every task Division sent her on. She just didn't know where else to go, sure she could have rung Michel, got him to pick her up and told him that the mission was a failure, but then she wouldn't have had the reassurance of care from the one person she truly trusted.

"This was too close, Alex." Nikita said back, catching the young Russian's eyes once more. "You say your still here, it's true, you are, but I was so close to losing you. You've never been hurt so badly before, this is getting too dangerous."

She stood up hastily, running her fingers through her hair in anger.

"I should never have sent you into Division to start with, then maybe all of this wouldn't have happened."

"You really need to stop blaming yourself," Alex sighed, "Are you forgetting it was my idea to infiltrate Division? It was me that suggested it, I thought I could handle it. I had to get justice for what happened, you know that. If I cant fight this war in my family's memory, what hope do I have of helping you to bring them down at all?"

"Michel should never have given you that order, your not ready for all of this, it all happened too fast. You becoming an agent. What happened with Thom was an accident, you didn't mean to kill him it was self defence." She spoke as if her mind was on a different subject completely.

"I had to make it look like it was supposed to happen.." Alex replied, her eyes swimming at the thought, she looked away with an image of her friend lying motionless in her mind.

"I never wanted this life for you, you know that." Nikita said in frustration, it was true and she would never have told Alex about Division at all had she not tried to kill herself right in front of her. She was going to get her cleaned up and let her walk away, away from the dangers that this job possessed, away from the dangers that her own life possessed.

"Walking away isn't an option Nikita." Alex sighed, almost reading what the older woman was thinking. "I cant just run from this fight, I have to see this through."

"At what cost?" Nikita whispered, taking a step closer. "At the cost of losing yourself to Percy's wishes? At the cost of becoming a gun for hire?"

She placed herself gently on the bed next to Alex, looking her straight in the eye, her features softening. She reached a hand up to the other girls face, gently brushing back her long brown locks. Alex paused for a moment, a feeling of warmth spreading through her at Nikita's touch. She didn't quite know when, perhaps it was when the other woman had saved her, perhaps it was when Nikita had taken her in, offered her a home, but she felt a closeness to the woman before her like she had never felt before. Everything that flowed behind those hazel eyes intrigued and drove her forwards. She knew that all Nikita had to do was ask, anything, and she would be right by her side, wherever she was needed.

Gently, she reached her own hand upwards, to where Nikita's resided on her cheek. Taking the assassins hand in hers she looked at her with meaning, her expression one that Nikita would be able to read like a book.

"At any cost." she whispered, "Were partners, this isn't just about me, and my family. Nikita, you _are_ my family and I'm going to see this through. For you, for Daniel, for my parents. This has to stop with us."

She sighed, flashing the older woman a smile.

"Together, we can do this. We can bring Division to it's knees – I know it."

She looked into Nikita's eyes and Nikita looked back into hers, hazel meeting blue in a brief moment of understanding. Nikita slowly nodded her head forwards in agreement.

They both knew it.


	3. An Incomplete Mission

**Hey guys! **

**Sorry for the late update, things have been a little bit crazy at home recently, works been manic and I haven't had much time to work on this over the past couple of days. **

**This chapters a little shorter, but it's leading up into a major story line for me so it's important all the same. I just didn't want to post this one and the next one together as I think it would have made things a little too long and drawn out. **

**I wanted to say thanks again for the overwhelming support that you guys have given me, even just over the first two chapters. I'm really glad that you all wanted a Nikita / Alex fic that just revolved around the two of them, instead of on everyone and your kind reviews are telling me that your enjoying it, which is good. Again, thanks to anyone that's read /reviewed or added this piece to their favourites, your loyalty means a lot. **

**Anyway, on with the next chapter. **

**Enjoy. **

**x**

* * *

_False Pretences – Chapter Three._

* * *

Alex closed her eyes in reflex as three clear shots rang out in quick succession. With her hand shaking slightly, she dropped her posture and looked curiously down the firing range at her make-shift target. Her eyes fell across three bullet holes and in annoyance she noticed that they were no where close to where her trained aim had been pointed.

Taking off her ear defenders in anger, she threw them down in front of her, a scowl set firmly across her features. They echoed around the strangely empty room as they hit the floor, bouncing up a few times before coming down to settle. This was how she liked training, after everyone else had left for the day or all the recruits were settling in for the night. It gave her a chance to think for herself, without having to think for the rest of Division too. The silence tonight however, wasn't the usual comfort for her. Why couldn't she get this right? It was something she should be able to do with her eyes closed. Nikita had taught her how to shoot with pinpoint accuracy, she could assemble and de-assemble a firearm blindfolded in under ten seconds and hit a target dead on from a hundred yards out with a simple pistol – except for now, except for after what had happened.

It had been a week since she had returned to the inside of Division walls after what happened on her last mission and the images still plagued her mind. After a relativity unpleasant de-brief from Amanda her week had gone from bad to worse. Failed missions were frowned upon by the agency, a low tolerance policy designed to keep agents on their toes whilst out in the field. She had blown her mission, a simple pick-pocket error that shouldn't have happened to start with – she was better than that.

Her head just wasn't in the game right now.

"Alex, training hard?" A voice from directly behind her made her jump slightly, turning around, she faced the room that had been empty just a few minutes prior. Her eyes fell upon a man's frame and she instantly knew who it would be checking up on her.

"Michel, hey." she sighed, hiding her sudden defensive position.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." he added, never missing a trick, seeing how she had tensed up when he alerted his presence.

"You didn't startle me, I was just being cautious." she replied, perhaps a little harsher than she intended.

"Everything alright with you Alex?" Michel asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seem a little uptight..."

"I'm fine, I guess I'm just a little tired. I've been spending a lot of time here, you know, training." She nodded towards the target before meeting his eyes with hers and giving him a reassuring smile.

"Alright..." he said, keeping his low tone and trying to keep the suspicion from his voice.

"I just came to tell you that Percy's requested you in operations." He said slowly, knowing full well what that meant for Alex.

"What, another mission?" Alex said quickly, trying to hide the surprise in her own voice. She was still recovering from the events of the last one.

"I think so, he's going to brief the both of us in there, I know nothing more than you do yet."

"Why me? I've just been out on a mission..." Alex sighed, brushing her hand down her side, across still-sore skin. Michel eyed her with a scornful look.

"Are you sure everything's alright?" He asked again. Alex wasn't acting herself these past few days, she hardly spent any time in Division, not since she had become an agent and had been allowed out into the city. Yet since this last mission she had been spending most of her time inside its walls, either shooting or fighting it out in the gym with the recruits, something he knew she didn't really need to do.

Alex nodded out her answer, carefully placing down her pistol and resigning herself to walking dejectedly towards the operations room, to where she knew Percy would be waiting.

Michel paused for a minute, eyeing his students retreating back. There was something about her just recently that he just couldn't place. His eyes flicked over to the human-shaped target that had been hidden behind her. He narrowed his eyes as he looked upon the three shots that she had fired, all in nonchalant parts of it's body. Frowning, he looked back at the young agent in wonder, before following her lead and walking himself in the direction of the mission briefing.

* * *

"Focus Alex!"

Nikita's voice rang around the young agent's head as she quickly flipped her way to her feet for what must have been the fourth time. Gathering herself together, she eyed the older woman's body stance for a split second, taking in her posture and body language before she pounced forwards once more, taking up an attacking position.

She struck out with her right arm, hoping to catch a glancing blow to the other woman's body. Her action was cut short by a quick sideways movement and block by Nikita, who in turn grabbed her wrist tightly in a counter attack and twisted her arm behind her back, slightly further than it was meant to go. She held her there for a minute, pulling muscles beyond their natural flexibility and then pushing just a little bit harder, giving Alex motivation to make the next move.

Alex gritted her teeth, striking out backwards with her boot and just managing to clip Nikita's knee cap. As Nikita took a slight step backwards, she wriggled out of her grasp and went for a low attack, which the older woman easily sidestepped.

"Always be a step ahead of your enemy." Nikita mocked, standing herself straight, her hands still raised in defence as Alex came at her again. The assassin moved nimbly out of the way of Alex's attacks, using her lower arms as a shield and pushing back every blow so that it was merely glancing off her skin. As Alex came to hit her a little harder, she turned in a full circle, catching the back of Alex's calves and sending her knee-first onto the floor. From there, she took a step back, gathering herself once more.

Alex picked herself up off the floor quickly, composing herself, her chest heaving. A dull ache flew through her muscles, their protest at being pushed too hard too soon. She moved her arm in a circular motion, trying to alleviate the cramp that Nikita's grab hold had left her shoulder in.

Her breathing came in short gasps, too quick to gather any words to say, so instead she bunched herself together, using all her remaining strength to move forwards once more, aiming to get her own form of grab-hold on the assassin. Nikita spun around, deflecting Alex's blow all in one quick motion and ending up behind her as quick as lightning, her arm snaked around Alex's throat, applying enough pressure to cause her discomfort.

Alex struggled against her grasp, desperately trying to pull the other woman's hand away from her windpipe, Nikita's iron like grip making breathing difficult. She kicked out once more, aiming for Nikita's legs, yet her mentor was prepared and had them well out of the way. Just as she was starting to panic at the restriction, Nikita relaxed her grip and pushed her forwards, dropping her to her knees once more.

Alex took in a much needed breath, her already aching muscles protesting further at their lack of oxygen. She could feel her limbs shaking, threatening to give up on her completely. If she hadn't already been on her knees, she was sure her legs would have given way underneath her.

"Alex..." Nikita sighed, brushing her own hair backwards. She paced the floor space between them, the adrenaline still pumping through her veins. This wasn't like Alex, her head was somewhere else, thinking of something different. The Alex she knew was better than this, she had taught her to be better than this.

"What's going on with you? It's like your half asleep or something!" She growled, her voice stern. She didn't want to be so harsh with the younger girl, especially after what had happened last week but she needed Alex to focus, now she was an agent there was so much more she needed to be able to do. So much more she needed to learn. She wasn't ready for this, Nikita could see that now. Alex was smart, she could use her head to figure out what she needed to do, but that wasn't always the only answer. The mission's that she would be sent on now, they weren't simple recruit kill-missions any more. She wouldn't have the back-up and the support teams willing to take her target out should something go wrong, the stakes were higher now, much higher than usual. If she couldn't figure out what was going on inside Alex's head, she dreaded to think what might happen if Percy sent her out again.

Division wouldn't give her a third chance.

"I'm trying!" Alex protested, staggering to her feet.

"Try harder!" Nikita bit back, trying to push Alex's buttons and get her motivated. "Block everything out and focus!"

She re-raised her hands, taking up her fighting stance once more.

"Again!"

Alex shook her head, still trying to get her erratic breathing under control.

"I cant..." she whispered, doubling over and placing her hands on her stitched up ribcage. All the impact was causing them to throb once more, every blow pulled at her stitches and made fighting just a little bit harder.

"You wont be able to say that on a mission!" Nikita growled, frustrated.

"I'll have a gun on mission, I wont need all of this!" Alex half shouted, disappointed at herself for feeling so weak. What happened had taken more out of her than she first thought. How the hell did Nikita push on through when _she_ was injured?

"Alex, listen to me. Guns jam, things go wrong. You always need a back-up plan, things might not always turn out by-the-book."

"I know Nikita, believe me, I know..." Alex panted, gripping her side tighter, completely defeated. Nikita relaxed her stance a little, sighing as she did so. Pushing Alex wasn't going to work, the girl was exhausted, it was plain for all to see.

"We'll take five, but we need to keep at this Alex, you know I cant let you go out there unprepared again." She was determined not to make the same mistake twice, pushing Alex was for her own good, no matter how much the other girl couldn't see it. She knew it was hard, coming back from where she had been to with any shred of confidence intact. Not everyone could bounce back, some found it harder than others. If she could have, she would have wrapped Alex in cotton wool the moment she found her again, kept her out of danger, out of this fight. She knew Alex would never have taken that, and now with a kill chip in-bedded in her neck, she had no choice but to follow Percy's wishes - This was the only way she knew to keep her safe.

"You cant fix me overnight, no matter how much you try." Alex whispered, looking up to meet Nikita's eyes from the floor. "We're running out of time..."

Nikita frowned at her words, offering a hand down to help the young Russian off the floor. Alex took her gesture and hauled her aching legs upright, forcing them to take her weight once more.

"What do you mean running out of time?" Nikita asked, keeping hold of Alex's hand for a few seconds longer, until the younger girl pulled it from her grasp and turned her back, walking over to get herself a glass of water.

"I'm being sent out again. Tomorrow." she said quickly, averting her gaze to nonchalant objects around the room, anywhere as to not meet her mentor's gaze. She didn't want to have to see the worry written in her eyes.

"What? Another mission?" Nikita asked, following her forwards, a sudden feeling of panic washing over her. Why hadn't she told her sooner? They should be preparing for it by now.

"Yep, Operation Legacy." Alex sighed, placing her glass back down and turning to look at Nikita, facing the inevitable.

"Infiltrating the home of a US weapons dealer to find and retrieve firearms and explosives that he plans on selling to Russia." Alex tore her eyes away once more and walked her way across to Nikita's Division recruit bed, suddenly aware of how noisy her footsteps were on the loft's hard floor. Sitting herself on the edge she placed her head in her hands nervously.

"What? They're sending you back?!" Nikita asked quickly, forgetting all about how bad sparring had been going to stare at the girl before her. "But you've been compromised!"

"That doesn't matter to Percy, he just wants the mission finishing. He wants me to prove that I can do it, to make amends for what happened before." Alex said bitterly, unsure on if she really wanted to go back head-to-head with these guys, the thought scared the hell out of her. She could still see the face of the man who stabbed her, plain as day. She was sure he would remember her too – as soon as he saw her again.

"What did you tell them in the mission de-brief?" the assassin asked, no way was Alex ready for round two with these guys, she only just survived the first attempt. All be it, yes, she had been caught off guard but still, she didn't like the thought of her waltzing into this guys house, it's not like she had any experience with these type of missions.

"What could I say Nikita? I had to tell them the truth. Amanda asked me what went wrong with the mission and I told her – I did. I said I must have messed up the list retrieval somehow."

"She took that answer?" Nikita asked, her voice questioning.

"I told her we roughed up, that I only just got away. I just left some little details out..." She nodded down to her side, little details like being knifed in the ribs. Nikita fell silent for a minute, taking everything in.

"So what, you've got to shoot the guy and destroy the weapons?" Nikita asked, Percy would never send just one agent in to do all that work, it would take a big team and lots of planning, there must be other reasons behind him sending Alex, reasons that Nikita really didn't want to explore. Percy's mind was a twisted place, full of secrets, lies and conspiracies.

"No, Percy wants me to kill the guy and steal the weapons. Nikita, he wants them retrieving." Alex looked up at her mentor in worry, "He wants all evidence of them being made destroyed."

"Percy wants you to retrieve the weapons, not destroy them and act like this guy never even existed?" Nikita asked herself the repeat question more than Alex, yet Alex still nodded, waiting for the older woman to take everything in. If she knew Nikita like she thought she did, she would be forming some kind of plan right now.

"There's more. Nikita, he referenced some other Division mission that had been completed in the past, said he wanted the operations to run in the same kind of way." Alex didn't like the part that was to come next, it would probably be the hardest part of the mission for her to grasp.

"He wants me to burn the place down Nikita."

Nikita snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes meeting Alex's. Suddenly, she had to swallow the lump forming in her throat at her words – she knew the mission that Percy had referenced, it was a little too close to home.

"Just like what happened to my house, to my family..." Alex said, tears forming in her baby-blue eyes. She wasn't sure she could take another burning building, it would bring back too many memories.

"Listen Alex, we can think about the technical points later alright?" Nikita cut her off, mid thought. If there was one place that Alex didn't need to be going right now, a day before a major mission – it was the darkness of her past. Operation Pale Fire was something that neither of their minds should be holding onto right now.

Walking over to the bed, she carefully sat beside Alex, holding her eyes with her own. She reached out a steady hand, placing it on the younger girl's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"You need to talk me through everything. Floor plans, weaponry, enemy Intel, the works." she said quickly. If Alex was going to complete the mission as planned, she was going to need a little help.

"I'm going with you..."


	4. Operation Legacy - Part One

**Hi guys!**

**I'm back! With the next chapter too of course! How is everyone doing? I finally (with a little help from The Little Things In Life, thanks by the way!) managed to catch up with what's going on in season three of Nikita. In actual fact, the episode 'Innocence' forced me back onto my laptop to write this next chapter for you, since we were presented with some really touching Alex/ Nikita moments in there that are quite frankly rare in the show! **

**Once again, everyone that has read and reviewed, I love you, thanks for the feedback! I'm really happy with the level of hits that this story is receiving, it's awesome that you are all being so loyal.**

**On with the story, enjoy.**

**Xx**

* * *

False Pretences – Chapter Four.

* * *

"_The weapons room will be on your right, just a few feet down the hall." _

Alex adjusted her clothing carefully, tugging at the bottom of her jet-black, pinstriped jacket in order to smooth down any ruffles in the material. She remembered Nikita's words, just a few hours ago as they had re-gone over the mission preparation.

Gripping a small brown leather briefcase tightly in her left hand, she knew that it put the finishing touches on her appearance. It masqueraded her as a smart business woman, with an agenda for buying weaponry and lots of money to do it with. She had been a little sceptical about her cover to begin with, appearances might just get her through the front door, but that's as far as this little façade would take her. She knew after she stepped into plain sight of her target – David Collins, that her cover would be useless, she was already compromised.

She tucked a small strand of wavy hair behind her ear, gently probing at the small communications device that she had carefully manoeuvred into her ear canal, checking that it was safe and secure. The little device was her lifeline, it was her rendezvous with Michael and on an entirely different frequency that Division knew nothing about – her conversation line with Nikita.

"Alex, I'm in position." Michael's voice broke her thoughts, coming through crisp and clear. She knew what that meant, her get-away car was parked just down the street, ready to gather the weapons and serve as her escape route after she had pulled the trigger. She shuddered at the thought, a small revolver was tucked in her belt, just out of view.

This wasn't going to be easy, she could already feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

"Alright, I'll give you the signal when it's done..." She replied, reassuring herself more than the senior agent.

"Be careful." he whispered. She knew he hated this almost as much as she did, he didn't think she should be on such a high profile mission so soon. Not seeming as though she was such a new agent. Percy was just asking for trouble, but then again, there always was some sinister motive behind his actions. He loved to push agents too far, to see what they were made of, he just hoped that Alex wasn't going to be another statistic.

Alex bit back her reply, her mouth suddenly dry. Instead of reassuring him that she would be, she didn't answer at all, she just eyed the house before her suspiciously. If she didn't know any different, she would have just thought the place before her was an ordinary house on an ordinary street. The building itself even lacked at being impressive, if anything, it was just a little bit dingy.

She guessed that's what it meant to be 'low profile'.

Fiddling with her ear piece once more, she spoke quietly into it as she began walking down a small concrete path towards the front door.

"Let's get this over with then."

"Alex, just remember what we talked about and you'll be fine. I'm ready around the back, once you're inside, give me the signal and I'll take out this security guard.

Alex nodded to herself, before realising that Nikita couldn't see that kind of gesture.

"Alright, here we go." She whispered back, straightening up. Nikita's voice filled her with a little confidence and she paused just outside the houses dingy little white door. She noticed, before she knocked, that half of it's paint was flaking off, leaving the wood below exposed. This guy obviously didn't go much on presentation for his clientèle. Just as she brought her knuckles up to wrap them on the wood, the door latch clicked and it swung quickly inwards, placing her in the shadow of a rather burly looking man. Looking him up and down, her eyes quickly flew to his belt, a holster securing some kind of large pistol, complete with a silencer. He could have shot her right now and the neighbourhood would have been none the wiser. She pushed the gruesome thought from her head, clearing her throat.

"Amy Harrod, I have an appointment with Mr Collins." She stated, feeling a little insecure next to his larger frame. He stared at her momentarily, one eyebrow slightly raised and her heart jumped, hoping that she hadn't sounded a little too formal to be dealing in weapons.

"Inside." He grunted, taking a step backwards and gesturing for her to walk in. Temporary relief flushed through her body at his words, at least he didn't shoot her on the spot. She noticed, as she walked past, his beady eyes scanning the street. He was probably checking to see if she had arrived alone. She knew what would happen next, she would be checked for any kind of bugs or concealed weapons. She tensed her muscles, ready for somewhat of a struggle.

Her eyes darted down the hall, if you could call it that, perhaps the inside was in worse shape than the outer walls. It reminded her somewhat of a drug den and she shivered, her mind remembering what Ronnie's place had been like. Either way, this was not a nice place to be.

She placed the briefcase down on the ground as the guard shut the door behind her. Instantly, his hands flew roughly to her body, checking her curves for any signs of a weapon. She tensed her muscles as his hands passed over the gun she had concealed in her waist-line. She had placed it so that no part of it could be felt below her thick leather belt, besides, his attention didn't seem to be wavering on what weapons she might be hiding. She narrowed her eyes as his hands lingered just a little too long across her hips. Eventually, he felt down each leg in turn and she soon found herself repulsed by his mere touch. Guys like this one weren't to be reckoned with.

As he straightened back up, she quickly grasped the briefcase once more. Spinning around, she brought it down across the top of his head. It collided with a sickening crunch and he staggered backwards, temporarily disorientated. Throwing it away to one side, she kicked out at his shins, her heeled boot connecting and forcing him to the floor before her. From there, she grasped each side of his shaved-head with her hands, bringing her left knee up to meet with his face.

He slumped backwards, completely unmoving.

Satisfied that she had succeeded in knocking him out cold, she straightened herself up, going straight for her revolver. Un-holstering it from her belt, she felt a little more secure with it's cool metal firmly in her grasp. She quickly bent down and removed his own weapon from it's holster and threw it down the hall. If he did happen to wake up, at least he wouldn't be an armed threat.

"I'm in." She whispered, touching her ear and taking the moment to tuck in the rogue strand of hair once more. She had completed the first part.

'_Yeah, the easy part.._.' she thought, her eyes falling to the door just inside the hall to her right hand side. She scanned it nervously, behind that door was her next big challenge. The room before her would be full of weapons and the man in there would have a pick from his own personal arsenal. She was going to have to be very swift about this, one target, one shot and no hesitation.

She looked up as she heard a faint noise from the back of the house, it was strangely familiar and she knew it was the dulcet tones of another body hitting the floor. She picked the height of her weapon up a little, just to be on the safe side. Aiming carefully, she stepped just beyond the door leading down to the armoury, taking a few strides towards the sound.

"Just me."

She found herself incredibly relieved at the words spoken before her, as Nikita crept her way into view. As the assassin passed, she kicked the pistol Alex had thrown earlier underneath a nearby table, making her way quickly over with her own gun drawn and ready.

"Don't want that being used against us do we?" she said quickly and quietly, reaching her protégée and looking her up and down, her eyes scanning every part of her body.

"You alright?" she asked, just confirming what she already knew.

"Yeah, I'm alright, this guy just got a bit touchy." Alex replied, feeling instantly less jumpy with Nikita by her side. Nikita nodded, understanding, she knew what it felt like to feel a little overwhelmed in a situation like this, she felt the same on her first few missions. Now, things like this just seemed to come naturally, feelings of fear were replaced with adrenaline and every second that passed was like playing a part in a movie, she was always thinking just that little bit ahead.

"I'm ready, are you?" Nikita asked, catching Alex's eyes. The girl swiftly nodded. She knew if she could help it, Nikita was never going to let her pull the trigger on this guy, she would get there first. Nikita never did like the thought of Alex taking lives, she always said that it was a piece of you that you could never get back.

She didn't want that life for Alex.

With a swift look of confidence, Nikita encouraged Alex on and the girl before her placed her back against the smooth mortar of the hallway wall. With her gun raised to chest level and pointed skywards, she prepared for Nikita to kick the door down before her. Perhaps the element of surprise would be better, if they could just catch him off guard, they might be in with a chance of taking this guy down quietly. Nikita eyed the door before her quickly, measuring up the distance between the floor and it's latch, finding the optimum point to strike against the wood. At that point, she raised her own gun and swiftly struck the door with her boot. With a satisfying bang, the door splintered at it's latch and swung inwards, violently hitting the wall behind.

With that que, Alex swung herself forwards, pointing her revolver away from her chest and quickly aiming. Going first, she quickly walked forwards, her eyes scanning the room before her. She heard Nikita's feet come forwards too, her gun pointed just to the left of Alex's body. She also quickly scanned around, her eyes widening at the view before her.

"What the hell?" Alex murmured, dropping her weapon aim to turn around and look in Nikita's direction. "It's empty!"

Nikita kept her weapon poised, her brow furrowing. She could see that, the room before them should be packed with a shipping order of weapons ready to dispatch to Russia.

"This doesn't make sense..." she whispered, a strange creeping feeling standing up the hairs on the back of her neck. She had always felt that she almost had a sixth sense about these kind of things and something just didn't feel quite right. If the weapons weren't here, yet the security guards were still patrolling the house, that had to mean that the target was still inside.

"Why is it empty?" Alex said quickly, her eyes falling around the room once more, she was supposed to deliver the weapons to Percy, that was her mission. If she couldn't complete it, Division would have her cancelled, no questions asked.

"Nikita, this doesn't feel right. Why would he just pack up and leave? This orders got to be worth millions, not to mention further custom in Russia from quiet recommendations..." Alex ran a hand through her hair, dropping her weapon downwards so that it was limply pointing towards the floor. She turned around, so that her back was towards the other woman in frustration. Her footsteps echoed around the strangely empty room as she walked away, thinking aloud.

"I'm going to have to radio in with Michael, he needs to see this. Someone must have tipped the guy off. Nikita, you need to get out of here before I call Division."

She sighed as she turned back around, her stomach doing a back-flip as she caught a hint of metal in the corner of her eye.

"Look out, behind you!" she shouted quickly, grabbing her gun and pointing it upwards once more. Nikita spun around, just in time to catch a glimpse of the butt end of a gun before it was brought down upon her temple. She heard Alex scream out once more, yet didn't manage to catch what the younger girl was trying to say, white lights exploded behind her vision and she dropped to her knees roughly, pain erupting through her head. For a minute, she was disorientated, a dizzy feeling washing through her. She felt her weapon being kicked roughly from her grasp and had no option but to let it go. The next thing she knew, she was completely on the floor, a boot pinning her chest downwards. Alex screamed once again, but this time it was even fuzzier.

Alex had her weapon trained high, pointing towards the man standing before her, Nikita's gun now pointing back at her menacingly. Her stomach flipped again as his features registered across her subconscious. This was her target alright, she would remember his face anywhere. With a shaking hand, she stepped forwards, desperately trying to set a tone of authority into her voice.

"Put the gun down!" she shouted, her eyes flicking backwards and forwards from Nikita to his sneering face. He was just as large as she remembered, she hadn't had much of a chance to see his face before, not from underneath the hood he had pulled over his head. Right now, in this light she could tell that he looked as menacing as she remembered. His hair was shaved short, so that just little stalks of stubble remained, upon close inspection, she could see a scar, ranging from the top of his right ear backwards, too far for her to see completely in the light the dingy room provided. His eyes were beady and focused, his own aim steady.

"I don't think your in much of a position to barter now, do you?" he sneered, pointing his gun down at Nikita's body. Alex saw her stir slightly, a faint amount of crimson forming down the side of her hairline. He had hit her enough to cause some kind of laceration, from here she couldn't see just how bad.

"Put your own weapon down, and perhaps I wont kill her!" he spat, shaking his gun downwards to emphasise his words. Alex scanned the situation quickly, a question running through her head. She always found herself referring to it in a situation like this, what would Nikita do? What would the older woman do if it was her with a gun pointed at her own skull? She knew the answer, dropping her hand down she broke her aim on the burly man before her. Throwing her weapon to the floor, she kicked it aside roughly.

"Better." he sneered, taking his gun off Nikita and training it back on Alex. She took a step backwards as he moved towards her. She could see that he didn't come off so lightly from their last meeting either, in fact she had managed to split his lip and cause a slight discolouration to his right eye, at least she had managed to rough him up a little.

"I thought you'd be back, guys like your boss, they don't give up without a fight do they?" He asked, surprisingly, his voice was soft and she shuddered. She wasn't sure what kind of game he was trying to play but she didn't care much for it.

"I don't know what your talking about." she replied, pleasantly surprised at how well she managed to keep the quiver of fear from her voice. She looked back down at Nikita, willing the assassin to bounce back to her feet and hit the guy over the head or something, anything to stop his advance forwards. She couldn't even radio for Michael, Nikita was still here and the last thing she needed was Division getting a hold of her.

"Of course you do, that's why your here isn't it? Killing me? Since you failed so badly at it the first time, perhaps you've been given a second chance to prove yourself." he continued his slow walk forwards as Alex's back bumped the wall behind her, she had nowhere left to escape to.

"I'm here to buy weapons, guns, ammunition, explosives. You are an arms dealer after all aren't you?" she said quickly, trying to make up a cover story in her head. This wasn't how the situation was supposed to go, he was supposed to be here, an easy target to hit. Instead, he had managed to get the drop on them both, somehow he had managed to get the drop on Nikita and neither of them had seen him coming.

"Bullshit!" he shouted, slamming his fist roughly into the wall behind her without so much as flinching. Alex jumped slightly, her adrenaline fading slightly and fear beginning to set in. With his face mere inches from hers, he sneered and she turned her own face away, her heart beating manically in her chest.

"I know why your here, I know who sent you. I don't need an explanation, they've been tracking me for years. I don't even want to know what Percy's plan with me is..." he turned away, switching his attentions back to Nikita.

Alex stepped forwards quickly at his words, to distract him from the older woman if anything.

"Then what do you want?" she asked quickly, how did this guy know about Division? She looked down at Nikita once more, panic filling her body. Just how much did he know about the mission, about them? Was this all some kind of set up, did Percy set the mission up simply for her to fail?

"Why clear out the weapons instead of selling them? If you know about Percy, why didn't you ship them out before we got here?" she asked quickly, trying to hold his attention. Part of her was curious too, was her boss just secretly sending her to her death to prove a point, to teach other agents a mission? She had seen it before, she had seen agents being used as simple chess pieces, sacrificing one to teach the others a lesson, to drive them to succeed. Was it Percy that tipped him off?

"I don't need the money from making weapons, why would I?" he said quickly, turning to face her. "I didn't even make the order, not after our last encounter."

He looked from Nikita to Alex in turn, noting the puzzled expression written across the young agents face. Pointing the gun back towards her, he took a menacing step forwards.

"Why would I need to sell weapons for a living when you're stood before me, alive and well..." he sneered, an insane glint in his dark eyes. As he spoke, Alex noted the sudden change in his accent, her heart skipped a beat, recognising it.

"Weapons are worth nothing to me, I have you as leverage – Alexandra."


	5. Operation Legacy - Part Two

**Hey Guys. **

**Really sorry for the delay in getting this chapter finished, I've been completely swamped with work recently! **

**Once again, thanks for all the reviews, favourites and alerts you guys have been giving me. Oh, and a PM or two ;) It's nice to know that over 2000 people have read this so far, I had no idea that it would be so popular! So as usual, let me know if I get anything wrong etc, I dont mind critisism... **

**Anyway, on with the story.**

**Enjoy. **

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****False Pretences - Chapter 5.

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"_I have you as leverage - Alexandra." _

Alex wasn't quite sure, but in that brief little time-frame, from when his sentence started to the point that it came to a close, but she could have sworn that her heart stopped beating – just for a moment.

In fact, if it wasn't for the gun still pointed at her forehead, and the sudden feeling of a restricting dry throat, she would have challenged his claim. Yet her voice found itself inaudible. So instead, he stepped closer and her heart jumped back to life, reminding her to exhale the breath she had been desperately holding in. What scared her even more, was the distinct lack of fear in his actions, his words had shaken her more than the pistol pointing her way. Even worse, was the thick Russian accent he was currently sporting.

"You think I wouldn't recognise you?" he sneered, a sadistic grin set across his face. "I would recognise the daughter of Nikolai anywhere!"

Alex's eyes flicked over to where Nikita lay, still motionless on the floor. She was going to have to talk her way out of this one.

"The daughter of Nikolai?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. She tried to keep a semi bored tone to her voice, willing herself to seem calmer than she actually was. It was like fooling a lie detector, with a gun pointed at her head.

"Don't play games with me, what has it been... Six years? Seven? You still look the same, older, but the same." he laughed as he finished his sentence and Alex shivered, her skin crawling. He knew her as a child? What had he been to her father to let him get so close to her family? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"I'm American, my parents moved over here before they died..." she lied, she and Nikita had been over the story many times, the car crash that plummeted her and her family into a freezing lake, how she had been pushed through the car window by her father and ultimately saved by his sacrifice. Nikita always said, live the lie until it feels like the truth, that way, others would believe it too.

"Accents are easy to lose, trust me. It might have taken you a good few years since you left Russia, but it's convincing none the less." he said, playing off his learned American tone and mixing it with the harsher accent of his Russian heritage.

"Your fathers company's worth a lot of money, I can only imagine what the men running Zetrov will pay for Alexandra Udinov, the lost heir. After all, you're supposed to be dead." he had a certain glint in his eye that Alex really didn't care much for. So that was this guy's plan, selling her back to the people who wanted her slaughtered. Auctioning her life to the highest bidder.

"My family was poor, why do you think I'm in this business?" she said, her voice harsh. It was one thing to know who she was, it was another entirely to quote what her father did for a living. Besides, even if she had the choice, she wanted nothing to do with her heritage. Her father's company was of no interest for her, she was always afraid of taking over it.

"Weapons?" he sneered, she could tell by his shift in tone that he was starting to get a little annoyed with her lack of co-operation. She smirked as he spoke, if he wanted her as leverage, he definitely wouldn't kill her no matter how much he brandished the gun in her face. Her eyes fell back on Nikita, she on the other hand he could use as leverage. She had to find a way of getting her mentor out of here.

"I highly doubt a girl like you would be into weapons dealing, after all, your what, twenty?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" She growled, she was trying to buy some time. She had to think of a way to get Nikita out. If there was ever a time for her to think on her feet, now would be it.

"What else would you be? Course you're going to deny it, admitting who you are would be a death sentence." he relaxed his posture a little, pointing the gun her way was going to have no effect whatsoever, after all, he couldn't shoot her.

"The truth is, this job, it doesn't pay any more. I owe the wrong people money, money that I cant get back from selling weapons on the street." he sighed, walking back over to Nikita. Alex took a step forward, her eyes trained on the both of them. From where she stood, she saw the older woman twitch slightly, just a slight movement that he didn't quite notice.

"So what, David Collins just gives up? Ships out? I always did think that name was a little bit too English to be American." she sneered. Down by her side, she crossed her fingers, willing Nikita to wake up just that little bit quicker. She had to keep him talking, she knew where that gun would be pointing next.

"It worked so far, just the same as yours does Alexandra, although it's never quite lost that Russian ring has it? Is that why you shortened it to plain Alex."

"You wish, I've always been Alex. The truth is, you've got the wrong girl." she said, taking another step forwards as he cocked his gun once more, she couldn't help but smirk, he didn't even have the safety off whilst it was pointing at her, this guy wasn't willing to take risks at all.

"We both know that's not true, you truly are your fathers daughter. I can see it in you, your looks, the way you fight, the fire behind your eyes. You want to succeed and your willing to do anything to get what you want, even if it means killing the man in your path." He took one look down at Nikita, before pointing the barrel of his pistol in her direction.

"I wonder, how much persuasion is it going to take for you to admit the truth?"

"There's nothing to tell, killing her wont make that change." Alex said quickly, desperately trying to stall him.

"Who said anything about killing? I have more than one bullet, and she has more than one limb..." he pointed the small pistol towards Nikita's leg, turning back to Alex he grinned. She narrowed her eyes, she was really beginning to hate this guy. She looked down once more, her heart jumping as she saw Nikita's eyes open briefly before closing quickly again.

"You hurt her, you'll still get nothing. Your going to have to kill me too. One way or another." she said, what was going to make this guy realise that she wasn't going to talk? Nikita had taught her better than that.

"When you hear her screams, perhaps you'll reconsider." he whispered, narrowing his eyes. He looked up at Alex, straightening his arm to emphasise aiming his gun. He raised an eyebrow at Alex's expression, for a moment he was confused – she was smiling.

"Not today." she whispered.

In one sudden movement, while his attention was focused on Alex, Nikita swung her leg upwards, her foot colliding with his hand and forcing his grip on the gun to relax, sending it flying across the room. Before he even had time to think, the assassin had managed to get her legs underneath her and flipped herself gracefully to her feet like nothing had even happened. His look of surprise said it all as Nikita took his own legs out, forcing him to the floor, away from his marauding weapon.

"What the?" he shouted, cut off in mid sentence by a sudden range of attacks the assassin brought down upon him. Rolling over, he managed to avoid most of her strikes, finding his feet clumsily. Alex made to move forward but Nikita cut her off with a quick wave of her hand. She brought her own hands up into a fighting position, ignoring the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head. The dizziness would pass, it always did.

She moved forwards quickly, aiming a well-timed punch to his abdomen and following it with one across his chin, sending him backwards. She shook her fist, pain radiating through her knuckles. What was this guy made of? Steel?

"Nikita, watch it!" Alex shouted, her heart jumping as he reached into his belt and pulled out a flick-knife. She recognised it instantly, it was the one that he had stuck in her side a week ago. Nikita's eyes lit up too and for the first time, Alex caught a glimpse of the gash across her mentor's forehead. Nikita was in no shape to be fighting, with a head wound like that, she was sure the assassin would be at a disadvantage.

She couldn't just stand here and watch. Looking around desperately, her eyes fell upon her revolver, it's handle just visible underneath one of the cupboard units around the edge of the room. She remembered that she had kicked it aside when they had been confronted, she had been so focused on keeping him talking that she hadn't seen where it had gone until now. She nervously looked back to Nikita as the older woman dodged out of the way, the knife only just missing her side. Alex cringed as she aimed a kick, staying well out the way of it's blade. She couldn't get close enough to do any damage without getting herself cut, or worse.

Lunging forwards, Alex quickly scooped her weapon off the floor with shaking hands, fumbling slightly to get it the right way up, she spun around, pointing it towards the fighting two. She cursed. She couldn't shoot, not while they were so close, she might hit Nikita.

Her heart sank as he stabbed forwards, Nikita spinning around him to stay out of the way. In a quick movement, he managed to get behind the assassin. Grabbing one arm, he twisted it backwards and she struggled, just like she had shown Alex in training. He was ready however, bringing up the knife, he held it across her throat menacingly and she quietened, her back pressed against his chest as he held on with a vice-like grip. Alex wasn't joking when she said this guy could hold his own in a fight. She had no way to shake him off and no way forwards without cutting her own throat.

Alex saw her mentally curse, it was written in her eyes. If she hadn't just have been whacked over the head, she was sure Nikita would never have left that gap open.

"Let her go!" Alex screamed, trying her hardest to intervene by pointing the gun she was holding forwards. Surprisingly, more to herself than anyone else, her aim was steady.

She saw him press the knife tighter to her throat, pulling her arm even further backwards.

"Drop your gun." he growled, Nikita struggling a little. Alex shook her head, taking a step forwards, her weapon still trained straight. She could feel panic rising in her chest. What was she supposed to do now? This wasn't supposed to happen, Nikita should have been able to take him down. That was the both of them that he had managed to get the better of, both within a week. Perhaps they had underestimated this guy and now she really needed to think on her feet.

"Then it seems like we're at a stale-mate." he panted, he pressed downwards on the blade, causing a faint line of crimson beads to form on the assassin's neck, cutting into her skin slightly. She saw Nikita's eyes, they held a look of murder and also a temporary helplessness that she had never seen before. It was a look she didn't like, it meant that they really didn't have a plan. She couldn't even radio in with Michael without making it look suspicious. Right now, she fancied her chances more freeing Nikita from inside Division than she did staring this guy out down the barrel of a gun.

"Drop the knife, then perhaps I'll drop the gun." Alex whispered, if there was one thing she was no good at, it was negotiating.

"So what, I drop the knife, and you put a bullet in my head? I don't think so." he sneered, the mad glint returning to his eyes.

"Go on, if you dare, take the shot. You'll shoot one of us." she said quickly. Alex's eyes widened, from here, she didn't have a clear shot and he knew it. She was just as likely to hit Nikita as she was to hit the man holding her. Her eyes met Nikita's and widened at what she saw, the older woman nodded, encouraging her.

Alex took a quick step backwards, shaking her head. She couldn't do it, she couldn't shoot even with a slight possibility of hitting Nikita.

"I didn't think so. So, you first. Drop your gun, and I'll let her go." he growled, pressing harder.

Alex felt her heart beat quicken once more, adrenaline pumping through her veins. How did she know, that when she dropped this weapon that he wouldn't just kill the older woman anyway. No, she couldn't take that chance. Instead, her thoughts shot back to his actions earlier, to how he left the safety off his gun when he had pointed it her way. There was something in this room that he wanted, one thing that he wouldn't risk losing.

Her look, as she met Nikita's eyes once more, was an apologetic one. This was reckless and she knew that she would be in trouble for it later, but it was the only way she could see of getting out of this mess, of them both walking out alive. The older woman shook her head. She knew that expression, it came when Alex had a sudden idea that she didn't agree with.

Bringing her gun upwards, she relaxed it's posture on the man before her. She saw him smirk, a victory glint in his eye as he relaxed the knife blade, stopping its decent from cutting further into Nikita's skin. The young Russian gave him a submissive look, wanting to see a false victory behind his eyes. Instead of dropping the weapon away, she raised it further, pointing it towards her own temple. She stared on, her gaze becoming serious.

"Let her walk out of here, or I'll pull the trigger." she whispered, revelling in the shock flashing across his features and the boldness ringing in her own voice. He hadn't bargained for this, briefly she had let him believe that he'd won.

"I am Alexander Udinov – if you want my life, let her go."


	6. Revelations

**Hi Guys ! **

**I'm back with the next chapter, I got this one to you a little quicker. Mainly because I felt a little guilty for leaving you all on a cliffhanger... Wow, thank you all for your reviews, I'm really blown away by the support on this. I know I say it on each chapter but it's true, feedback really does make me think and update quicker. **

**Someone left me quite an interesting review actually, William J, I hope this chapter clears up all your misconceptions about what is going on in my head with this story, everything I leave out or simply hang back on for a while has a reason and this chapter should just tell you why...**

**On with the story - **

**Enjoy! **

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_False Pretences – Chapter Six._

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Even as the cool metal of a revolver pressed against Alex's temple, held there by her own steady hand – she felt no fear.

Not even an ounce of doubt crossed her mind, instead, a scowl was set firmly across her features and her gaze was focused, her determination and willingness to lay down her life for that of her mentor showing in every ounce of her body. Her posture screamed defiance and her own pulse rang around her body like a melody, carrying with it adrenaline, helping her rash actions along their course.

It felt good, saying her name out loud. It was the persona that she never wanted to become, the identity that scared the hell out of her. Alexandra Udinov was a ghost, a girl who died in a tragic house fire alongside her parents. She was the spoiled little rich kid, brought up by her father to survive, to thrive in business, even complete the despicable to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Yet here she stood once more, far from the image her father had created, she had been brought on to a greater course by the very woman she was doing this for. Nikita meant more to her than perhaps her parents memory could deliver, she was the here and now, the one solid thing in Alex's life.

That, in itself was worth fighting for.

"Is that what you wanted to hear?" she whispered, her voice low and far from the scared young woman she had been previously. The man before her needed to die, now that her identity was revealed it would put her in danger. If word got out, it wouldn't just be the one man looking to cash in on her death, it would put her and Nikita at risk. She just needed to hold on out until she could figure out a way to do it.

"Alex no." Nikita stammered, her eyes locking to the weapon held in the young Russian's hand. There was something about Alex's eyes that was haunting, it was a darkness she had seen in her before, a desperation from when the girl before her had been using. Her expression was as such that even the well-trained assassin wasn't quite able to read her plan, if indeed, she had one.

Alex was scaring the hell out of her – more than the knife pressed to her throat.

* * *

Michael sighed out his frustration as he leant back against the seat of his car, until his head met the headrest sharply. Exhaling, he ran a hand through his short dark hair with mixed emotions. He wanted to disregard the last few sentences that he had just heard. If it wasn't for the tone and pitch of voice in which they were spoken he could have quite easily have passed them off as belonging to anyone but Alex.

His small radio had spoken to him in her words, the receiving end of a communications device that served as both a two-way conversation line and unbeknown to most agents, a one way listening device that was tuned into a set frequency. In this case, Alex's words came straight to him.

He felt a slight pang of sadness at what he was hearing, for Michael especially most things always proved to be too good to be true. He had hoped that a bright young Agent like Alex would have been an exception. He had always known there was something special about her, she shone with a superiority that he hadn't seen in the other young recruits, she had shown promise. She has also held a hunting image behind her eyes that came with a darkened past, it was the same that resided behind his own eyes, and behind Nikita's.

Nikita – she was foolish to let Alex come here.

A part of Michael wanted to disregard what he had heard up until now, to brush aside the betrayal that his recruit had just caused. He didn't want this, not really. Like her, he was just following orders. If he had been able to, he would have silenced the transmission before anything had come to this, simply brushed away her identity like he knew nothing about who she really was. He could have lived with that. He could even have lived with her pairing with Nikita, something he had suspected for quite some time. Yet he couldn't, he was Division and his mission was to expose the truth- that, and he wasn't the only one listening in.

"Alexandra Udinov – The deceased Russian Heiress of Zetrov, working with Nikita."

The voice that broke his thought's was perfectly on time – it was the ring of a man that he neither liked nor trusted, yet served because he believed he could get revenge for his wife's murder. Percy was a dark-horse, a man with a constant reminder of power and the alternate motives to match.

"So your recruit, your agent, was the mole all along..." Percy whispered, his voice transmitting through the same speakers, fitted into Michael's car, that Alex's had. His voice was almost accusing, like Michael should have know all along.

"I had no way of knowing." Michael bit back sharply, a sourness in his voice that he just couldn't hide. He felt a certain protectiveness over Alex, he always had. Learning that she had played him the whole time, that she had used his abilities as a senior Agent to infiltrate Division and go behind his back to work with Nikita had hit somewhat of a sore spot. He trusted her, deep inside, she moved something within him that screamed out for protection.

"Of course not, no one's saying you did." Percy's voice was that of a frustrating man. It was almost impossible to read, his dulcet tones gave a warming feeling of trust and held a convincing tone that no man could argue against. Yet they also held a promise of betrayal, an uncertainty that Michael had no way to read, there was always an agenda behind that voice and it was usually one that Michael didn't agree with.

"So what now, now that you know for sure that it's Alexandra Udinov, what do you want to do cash in on her identity?" Michael asked, if Percy wanted to bring her back to Division for questioning, perhaps there would still be a way for him to reach the young Russian.

"There is no other plan, this girl managed to infiltrate Division from the inside out. There's no way to contain her information flow to Nikita, not without cancellation."

Percy's words made Michael's mouth run dry, with his heart beating fast, possibilities flew through Michael's head.

"What, we just kill her?" he asked quickly, if he could talk his way out of this, perhaps he had a shot at saving Alex.

"This girls worth millions, Percy, are you willing to give that up?"

"It's not about the money. If word gets out that Alexandra Udinov is alive, it will be revealed that we failed at our mission, that Division is incapable of carrying out orders. We were paid a lot of money to ensure that all Udinov's died that night." Percy's voice was as calm as ever and Michael's skin crawled. This was just a standard kill to him, he probably had his hand hovering above her kill chip activation as they spoke.

"And what about Nikita? If you activate that kill chip, you know she wont stop until she gets revenge for her partner. She always did have a soft spot for those she worked with..." The last part of Michael's sentence was spoken softly, his voice trailing off into thought. If Alex died in front of her, Nikita would be out for blood and it would be Percy's.

"Oh I'm not going to kill her Michael. You are." Percy's voice was almost ringing with a creepy sense of joy.

"I'm not the one with my finger on the trigger." Michael bit back, now Percy wanted him to kill her. To kill the Agent that he had become so close to. If this was some sort of test for him, to test his loyalty, it was a low blow on Percy's account.

"I'm not talking about her kill chip, I'm talking about the charges we placed in Alex's briefcase. We will revert to plan B. You're going to set the charges and complete Alex's mission. Blow the house Michael, burn it down." Percy finished with an ultimatum of victory and Michael could imagine the look of joy across his face.

"We have Agents inside!" he sneered sharply, already knowing the answer to his statement, Percy wasn't exactly emotional.

"Just pawns Michael, that's all, sacrifices that have to be made to keep her identity a secret. Miss Udinov will die tonight, the same way she was supposed to all those years ago."

Michael ran a hand back through his hair. So that was his plan, he would kill not only Alex, but no doubt eliminate Nikita at the same time, both threats would be taken care of in one strike. Genius, but evil both in the same sentence.

"It's your mess Michael, clean it up!"

* * *

"So what, you hadn't planned for this huh?" Alex said, her voice un-wavering. She could see the scared look across Nikita's face, it was one that no amount of guns, bullets or fighting could bring to her features. Alex felt a slight pang of guilt, she knew that Nikita felt responsible for her, that all she wanted was to keep her safe.

Now it was her turn, she would see that the both of them got out of here alive, even if she had to use her persona to do it.

"It doesn't look like you did either." he whispered, pressing the blade down on Nikita's neck a little harder, Nikita struggled against him, trying to pull his arm a little further away. From here, she had no leverage, not with a blade against her skin.

"So what now, do you honestly want me to believe, if I let her go you wont shoot me in the head?" he snorted, for someone in such a precarious position, he didn't seem all that bothered about Alex's actions.

"I guess you'll just have to trust my judgement." she bit back, her finger only lightly held against the gun's trigger. She had no plan on pulling it down, she just needed to convince him that she did.

"Trust an Udinov?" he laughed, "You must be joking. Nikolai would rather shoot me in the back as I walked away, isn't that what you all do? Even your mother Katya..."

"Don't talk about my mother!" Alex shouted, his words stirring something within her, what happened to her father, she could half grasp. Even though she loved him dearly, he did some unquestionable things, things that she didn't agree with. Her mother, she never did anything wrong, never.

"My mother never hurt anyone, she had nothing to do with Zetrov!" Alex growled, her hand slightly shaking as anger coursed through her.

"Of course not, she was innocent. In your eyes anyway. I know the truth Alexandra, I know the truth about everything. Even the people who were sent to your house that night, you never did figure out why Division wanted your family dead, or who ordered the kill..." his words were sharp, Alex couldn't help but narrow her eyes at his statement.

"Division killed my family, they ordered the hit, they pulled the trigger." she whispered, tears stinging her eyes as she spoke. She looked back at Nikita, she could see tears residing in her eyes too, behind the murderous look for the man holding her, she could see a sadness there too.

"Believe what you want Alexandra, go ahead. If you want to know the truth about what happened, drop your gun and you'll know." he spoke almost softly, an interrogators voice.

Alex tried not to let the puzzlement show across her face as he spoke. Was it all a game? A plan to get her to drop her weapon, how could he possibly know what happened that night?

"You're bluffing..." she whispered, hesitant, but still confident.

"Are you willing to find that out?" he said quietly, "If you kill me, could you live with the fact that you might never learn who killed your parents, who exactly pulled the trigger the night they burned your house down? I can tell you Alexandra, if you die here, what revenge would you have against the man who ordered the hit, he would still be out there, living free of their deaths."

"You're wrong..." she whispered, taking a step back. For a minute, she wanted to take the gun she was holding and aim steady, putting a bullet through his head. She would have, if Nikita wasn't in her firing line. If what he was saying was true, maybe she had a way to get revenge, if he was bluffing then she was going to die anyway, whether she pulled the trigger or whether some Russian operative did it for her.

It was that moment's hesitation that allowed her focus to shift slightly, that let the gun drop just a few inches without her noticing. For a split second, it left her temple and it's own focus shifted downwards. An involuntary action caused by her sudden thoughts, her sudden lack of concentration. It was then that Nikita's voice rang out, loud and true and it was her name that she shouted in a panicked tone.

"Alex!"

Before Alex's eyes had time to focus once more, the man before her had shifted his position. She had let her guard down, and a glint of silver caught her eye as a blade spun out and caught the light. The same blade that had been threatening Nikita's neck moments ago. She didn't have time to even move slightly out of the way and in one painful movement, the gun was forced from her hand as a white hot pain shot through her palm.

She yelled out as the perfectly-thrown knife pierced her skin, travelling through flesh and nicking bone as it passed through her right hand. She looked down, taking her eyes off the man before her as Nikita spun around, taking his moment of exposure as an opportunity to free herself and fight back once more.

Alex raised her shaking hand up to eye level, her stomach churning at the sight of a through and through blade, it's hilt pressing against her skin and it's tip protruding from the other side. Her eyes scanned around the floor, forgetting for a quick moment the pain coursing through her hand and somehow, up her arm all at the same time. She scanned around and quickly picked her gun back up once more, this time it was clenched in her left hand. Her limbs shook with adrenaline and pain as she looked back to Nikita struggling against the man before her.

With one well-aimed kick, the assassin sent him backwards. Far enough away for Alex to take a shot, to pull the trigger jumping underneath her fingers. Sound blasted against her ear drums from her small weapon and she only blinked in reflex as her shots rang out. One. Two. Three.

David Collins staggered backwards, away from the woman Alex was desperately trying to protect. His gaze for just a moment, resting against hers. It was in those few seconds that she realised that she felt no remorse, no regret for what had just happened. A good friend had once told her that the people she killed would rest in her memory for a long time, that she couldn't shake the feeling of killing someone. That might have been true in some cases, but in this one, her eyes narrowed at the mere look of him falling backwards.

It was for those few seconds too, that Nikita looked at her protégée and feared what she saw, more than the gun that Alex had held to her temple. There was a darkness there that she had seen when Alex had shot Vlad, when killing had become real to the young woman, it was a place that she never wanted Alex to go.

Nikita didn't stand still to see his final breaths, to watch his life slip away. She had seen it enough times to block out the emotion that came along with it, the feeling that Alex, no matter how strong she argued she was, wouldn't be able to shake. Instead, she ran to Alex's side. Right as she dropped her weapon down and let it clatter to the floor.

Then the girl before her was on her knees, tears stinging behind her eyes. Nikita didn't know whether it was emotion or pain, but at least something was behind those baby blues, something viable as feelings.

"Alex..." she whispered, taking the other girls arm and surveying the damage to her hand. Alex looked up at her as she did so, a tear finally breaking it's cascade. She didn't feel anything as Nikita gently inspected the blade, in fact, she was numb all over.

"Was he bluffing?" Alex whispered, her eyes fixing themselves to her bloodied hand. "Did he really know something about the night my parents died?"

Nikita looked up at her words, a faint feeling of guilt flowing through her. She pushed it aside quickly, the last thing Alex needed right now was more emotions to deal with. It was bad enough that she had a second stab wound, and another incomplete mission. Without the weapons that Percy so desperately wanted, Alex's mission would be deemed a failure, even if she did kill her target.

"I don't know Alex." Nikita whispered, placing a hand on the other girls shoulder, pulling her forwards into an awkwardly positioned embrace. To tell the truth, Nikita was just happy they were alive, that she was alive. The pounding in her head and the pain undoubtedly running through Alex's hand was proof of that.

"We have to get out of here." she whispered, pulling back and taking up Alex's hand once more.

"No, you have to get out of here." Alex whispered, her eyes locking with Nikita's. "I need to radio in with Michael, tell him the targets down and that there's been some kind of problem with the weapons."

Before Nikita could stop her, Alex had reached down and grasped the knife's hilt, cringing as she pulled it cleanly back through her hand. Breathing through gritted teeth, she let her shaking left hand drop it's bloodstained blade to the floor.

"Alex..." Nikita said quickly, as the younger girl pulled her limb back and held it close to her chest. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You have to Nikita, I can handle this. You have to be out before I rendezvous with Michael, I have to complete the mission." Alex argued, standing herself back up. Nikita's hand was instantly on the small of her back for support.

"I can do this."

She reassured the woman before her with a swift nod of her head. She had to place and blow the charges in her briefcase, making the whole situation look like weapon's making gone wrong. It was ironic to think, she thought that would have been the hardest part about this mission.

"I know..." Nikita whispered, leaning forwards and placing a small kiss on Alex's forehead. Alex closed her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Just be careful." Nikita whispered, letting her contact go reluctantly. Alex was right, she had to clear the building before Division knew she was here, for hers and for Alex's sake. She hated leaving the younger girl behind but if there was one thing that she knew, it was that Alex was more than capable of finishing this, today had taught her that.

As she made her way towards the door, she couldn't help but refer back to the feelings that had surfaced within her earlier. When Alex had raised a gun to her own temple, she had been afraid, so afraid of losing her. She never wanted to feel that again, when this was over, when Alex had completed this mission, they were going to discuss what they should do next. They needed to re-evaluate Alex's position inside Division, it was getting too dangerous for her to stay.

She looked back at the young woman behind her as she slipped out of the room, leaving the chaos behind her. As she walked, a strange feeling washed over her, a feeling that was pulling her backwards, making her footsteps slow. She listened intently, a sound becoming apparent just ahead. She stopped her walk forwards, it became clearer as her own footsteps ceased to sound.

It was one she recognised – a series of quickened beeping that made her blood run cold.

Turning on her heels she shot back towards the room in which she had just left Alex, her pulse quickening as she crossed the space between them that now felt like a hundred metres. She didn't have time to think as she shouted out Alex's name in what seemed like slow motion, nor did she have time to notice the shocked expression across her partners face as she tore her eyes away from the body before her and fixed them back on her.

She shot forwards, grabbing Alex around the waist and throwing her to the floor all in one quick motion as sound erupted from the hallway behind her, from the direction of Alex's charges. She pinned the younger girl down under her as the house shook and a brilliant light danced around them as walls blew apart and flames engulfed the space behind them. The ringing in her ears didn't quite manage to block out Alex's screams as shrapnel rained down all around them. She grabbed Alex's body tighter, desperately trying to use her own as a shield. She knew what was happening, even through the sudden chaos. It was operation pale fire all over again.

The house around them had become an angry inferno – and they were right in the midst of it.


	7. Ghosts of the Past

**Hey guys! **

**Wow, it's evident that a lot of people wanted this story updating ASAP! I apologise for the long gap in my chapters, I've just been really focused on my one-shots recently. You know when you get something in your head that just wont leave until you put it down on paper? Well that was True Believer for me, that episode left so many gaps, only writing could fill them in for me. **

**Anyway, I wont keep you waiting any longer. I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, so please give me your feedback. Here's the next chapter to False Pretences... **

**Enjoy. **

**X**

* * *

False Pretences - Chapter Seven.**  
**

* * *

"_Father down!" _

_Nikita stood motionless, gun raised high as flames licked menacingly around her legs. Heat pulled at every limb as she took a slow step forwards, ignoring the crackle of fire in the unstable building around her. _

_Instead, she fixated her gaze to the bed before her, to where she knew her next target hid, terrified of what was to come. This was her last target, the final member of the Udinov family – a thirteen year old girl, too young to understand what was going on around her. _

_It was in that moment, that Nikita knew what she really had to do, what was the right thing to do. _

_Alexandra Udinov didn't deserve to die for something her father had created, for an empire that was not yet hers. She didn't need to suffer the fate of her family, not like this. So Nikita took a stand, she made a decision, one that she could never falter on. She dropped her weapon, taking off her mask so that her eyes were visible to the child before her. In them, held a steady gaze of security, of a promise that everything would be alright. _

_Even as she shuffled to the floor, meeting the gaze of the terrified blue eyes before her, she felt no disrespect for her actions. Division would never know, it was the right thing to do, the only thing to do. Even as Alexandra's eyes fluttered to a close, her body worn down from smoke inhalation and lack of oxygen, Nikita felt no remorse for what she was about to do. _

_Saving her felt good – it felt real. _

_So she commando-crawled over, until the young child was securely in her arms, away from the sudden threat of the flames around her. She was going to get them out of here, because neither of them needed to die. _

_Not like this. _

* * *

Nikita coughed violently at the sudden onslaught of smoke that attacked her lungs, blocking her regular air flow and filling her body with a horrible suffocating feeling.

The first thing that hit her was the heat. A relentless, orange glow that wrapped around her, instantly drawing perspiration from her pores and making her breathe in heavily. The house around them had become a sudden inferno, fuelled by it's own rage, seeking out anything burnable in it's path.

She tightened her grip naturally around the girl beneath her, the realisation of what had just happened hitting her. Everything had happened in slow motion, time becoming a painful drag, not willing her feet to move faster, or for her reflexes to become quicker. She had heard the dulcet tones of charges ready to ignite, the charges that she knew Alex had brought into the house with her.

A faint movement beneath her caused her attention to be shifted onto the girl below. Raising her pounding head off the floor, she released her grip on Alex slightly, giving the other girl a little space to move. She had been using her own body as a shield, trying to protect Alex from the blast and any shrapnel that might have come their way. Alex coughed lightly, the smoke dragging through her own lungs, perhaps not helped along by Nikita's restricting weight against her chest.

She gave the older woman a slight push, willing her to move her body away and allow her to get to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Nikita asked, her voice catching in her throat as the smoke refused to allow her any room for speech. She noticed that Alex just nodded her response, struggling just as much to form words. The younger girl rolled over as Nikita stumbled to her feet, her eyes reflecting back the fire's glow as she took in the sight for the first time.

Nikita saw her eyes widen, a sudden fear gripping their gaze and flashing an image of her past across her scared features. For a minute, she didn't see Alex, but an image of the small girl she had rescued six years ago. The Alexandra Udinov that should have died in a house fire with her parents.

"Alex, come on. We have to get out of here." she said quickly, shaking the thoughts from her head and reaching down a hand for encouragement. She willed the younger girl to take the gesture, knowing that every moment longer they spent here was a dangerous game. The noise of the fire was incredible, she knew that it was picking up momentum. The house was becoming unstable, little pieces of rubble were falling from it's already compromised walls, clattering to the ground below.

"Alex please..." Nikita quickly bent down to take Alex's hand, roughly jerking her upright, forcing her to scramble to her feet. The motion seemed to shake something from the younger girl, to wake her up slightly. Alex shook her head, her eyes focusing once more. She gave Nikita a small nod, trying not to let the flames get to her, to take her back to a place she really didn't want to be. Nikita gripped her hand tighter, noticing that the other girl still held the other one close to her chest, a faint amount of blood visible through the strange dancing light around them.

There was only one way out of this room, back the way they had come, towards the heat that threatened them.

"What are you doing?" Alex found herself shouting over the roaring noise of the flames, even though she was only a few feet away from the assassin. She coughed once more, more smoke plunging into the room and blackening their already sooty skin. Nikita was leading them towards where the fire burned at it's brightest, not away. Alex found herself tearing her eyes away from it's destruction to desperately scour the room around them, looking for any other way out. The darkening smoke was making it difficult to see beyond a few feet.

"Listen to me Alex!" Nikita half-shouted, turning her back to the heat momentarily, so that she could grab the other girls face with both hands, forcing her to look directly into her hazel eyes.

"This is the only way out, back the way we came. I know it's hard, but you're going to have to be strong. I'm right here and nothings going to happen alright?" Nikita could hardly hear her own voice over the roar now. Flames were licking at the open door, threatening to catch light against it's wooden frame.

They had to leave – now.

"Alex come on!" she growled, roughly grabbing the other girl's hand and pulling her forwards. With her hand firmly in Nikita's, Alex didn't protest, it was almost as if her feet weren't her own any more. She tried desperately to rub at her eyes with her free sleeve as they began to water, the smoke stinging at them relentlessly.

As they reached the door, her eyes locked with the burning hallway. One side of the room was completely unrecognisable and she knew the front way out was going to be impossible. A ceiling strut had collapsed, bringing down a portion of the roof with it, leaving their options limited to the back of the house. It was the way Nikita had entered earlier. She knew it was where the main blast had taken place. She had left her mission briefcase next to the guard, after knocking him out, leaving the charges for when her and Nikita had retrieved the non-existent weaponry. That's when a sudden thought hit her – she had the trigger for the charges.

She didn't get any time to ponder her thoughts as Nikita jerked her forwards, pulling her out into the hallway. As soon as they stepped out, the heat doubled. Flames became closer to their skin, licking around their legs and sprinkling down little pieces of burning paper and plaster from the walls. She found herself giving a slight strangled yelp as one fell upon her shoulder, instantly burning through her clothing and attacking her skin below. She rubbed at it frantically, trying to dislodge it whilst keeping pace with the assassin before her. She didn't dare to let go of Nikita's hand, through fear that she might lose her in this burning death-trap.

"Come on, this way!" Nikita's voice was even more hoarse than it had been previously, and she noticed that the older woman gave a sort of strangled cough after she formed her words. It wasn't just the heat bearing down on them that was the immediate threat, it was the smoke inhalation too.

Alex tried not to let her eyes fall upon the painting towards the end of the hall, half of it's canvas burning upwards, leaving just half of the image intact. It reminded her of the one that had hung near her bedroom, back in the Udinov mansion. It too, had been burning when she had last seen it, when her father had dragged her past, leading her to the last room in the house that was free of flames. She closed her eyes quickly, desperately trying to block out the memories. Instead, she gave Nikita's hand a quick squeeze and allowed the older woman to pull her forwards, through a door to the left and into what she soon recognised as the houses kitchen.

The back door was open, it's frame visible by the air pressure pulling some of the smoke out of the house. As Nikita made a beeline for it, Alex stumbled forwards, releasing her grip on the assassin's hand as she tripped over something on the ground, plunging her to her knees on the hard-tiled floor below.

"Alex!" she heard Nikita shout her name as she scrambled to her feet, ignoring the throbbing sensation now shooting through her legs, sending pins-and-needles down to her feet. She grabbed the table next to her for support, her heart beat drumming out a rhythm too fast for her oxygen-starved body. She coughed, trying to clear the restricting fog from her lungs so that she could answer.

"I... I'm alright." she managed, forcing her feet forwards once more. Nikita gave her a quick nod, reaching for her hand in the smoke. She door was right there, they were so close. Through the crackling flames, she could hear sirens in the distance, no doubt rushing to their location to get the rogue flames under control.

As Alex moved to take Nikita's hand, she gave a strangled cry, all that her oxygen-starved throat could muster, as something closed around her left ankle tightly. The next thing she knew, her foot was pulled roughly from underneath her, pulling her unexpectedly back to the ground. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as her head collided with the tiles, stars exploding behind her vision.

"Shit, Alex!" she heard Nikita say quickly, as a pair of hands roughly snaked themselves around her throat, pressing down with force. She met the eyes of a man, a sort of crazed glint in his eyes, hi-lighted by the trickle of blood from a head wound he was supporting. Her heart skipped a beat as she desperately tried to grasp his own hands in hers, trying to release their grip, only just feeling the stabbing pain go through her own injured hand. She kicked out, aiming for his groin in a desperate motion to free herself. Her knee collided with satisfying force and the grip around her throat loosened considerably. She kicked out again, shoving him backwards as Nikita threw him off in a well-aimed tackle.

She forced her unwilling body to roll over, her limbs shaking beneath her as she pushed her way to her feet. She looked behind her nervously, Nikita had him pinned down to the floor, raining down several punches across his face. She took in the sight of his clothing, it must have been the security guard that Nikita had knocked out earlier, she must have caused him to come round when she had fallen over him in the darkness.

She rubbed at her throat, the air around them so restricting it almost felt as if his fingers were still there, pushing down on her windpipe. The roar of the fire was louder now, and she realised in horror that more of the kitchen was ablaze, the fire nearly consuming their only escape route. She coughed once more, a light-headedness threatening to overcome her as she saw the guard throw Nikita off, rolling her roughly to one side, the assassin's back colliding with the counter units behind them. The assassin was quickly to her feet, finding reserves of oxygen that Alex didn't know existed. Times like this, she was sure that Nikita was super human, it always amazed her how Nikita could keep her cool in situations like this.

Nikita sidestepped around him as he went to grab her, his fingers just gracing her side, not enough to get a good hold upon her. She kicked out, catching him in the knee cap and expecting him to fall to the ground, instead it seemed he was ready for the blow. He grabbed her leg, flipping her to the floor, his eyes reverting back to Alex.

Nikita looked up just in time to see him raise something, her heart skipped a beat when she realised it was a small pistol, complete with a silencer attached to it's barrel. She felt down to her side, her hands falling empty against her holster.

She leapt to her feet as quickly as her limbs would allow, a certain fatigue flowing through them, making her joints burn with effort. She couldn't call out fast enough as his finger fell lightly upon the trigger, only a moments hesitation before he squeezed it tightly down.

Nikita shouted out, her eyes falling to Alex's baby blue ones, widened in shock as if she were a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Desperately, she forced her feet to gather themselves together and spring forwards, her hand reaching in slow motion for the gun before her.

The noise of the fire around them seemed to dampen slightly as a familiar sound rung around her subconscious. It was a sound that made her blood run cold, that told her her actions had been too delayed, too late.

The sound of a gunshot rang out in the houses smoky darkness – loud and true.

* * *

Michael rested his head back against his car head rest, pulling a hand through his dark locks, a horrible feeling sinking through his heart at the screen before him. He had looked at his car GPS many times before, with the same image on screen, but today, today it felt a hundred times worse somehow.

Beating his hands down heavily on his steering wheel, a voice broke his angry thoughts, a voice he was beginning to despise.

"Status?"

Percy.

Michael had to force himself to take a deep breath before he answered, not trusting himself to speak without saying something he might later regret. This was his job, it should have been as a standard protocol usually was, however this time it felt different - It felt wrong. He cared about Alex, it was perhaps that level of care that had brought Percy's suspicions up about her to start with.

Now he was looking at a small screen – the blinking light that had been showing him Alex's progress now distinguished. Percy already knew, he just wanted to hear Michael say it, to force him to realise what had just happened.

With sirens now ringing closer in his ears, Michael increased the grip around his steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Taking a deep breath, he narrowed his eyes and forced his unwilling voice to play back just what Percy's corrupt ears wanted to ear.

"Her trackers down." he whispered, ignoring the sting behind his eyes and even worse, the satisfying sigh down the communications device from his boss.

"Alexandra Udinov – Alex," he corrected. To him, she would always be Alex, no matter what she may or may not have done or the company she kept. Not even Nikita was worth what had just happened.

"Is dead."


	8. After the Storm

**Hey guys! **

**Wow, I'm really, really sorry that I've kept you all waiting so long for this chapter, but the circumstances were completely out of my control. For the past few weeks I've been staring up at a hospital ceiling after coming off my rather lovely horse Jasmine and having a little argument with a van. I've busted up my shoulder really quite badly (typing with one hand is NOT easy!) and needed it pinning in a couple of places, add that to a couple of broken ribs and a smashed up collarbone and you do NOT have a very happy Alex! I'm sorry if this chapter is a little lower than my usual standard, I'm a little mentally and physically drained right now...  
**

**So again, my apologies for this taking so long and for any incoherent mistakes you might find, I'm still a little doped up with pain killers! **

**Enjoy! **

**X**

* * *

False Pretences – Chapter Eight.

* * *

"_No volunteers?" _

_Nikita narrowed her eyes into a slight scowl as Percy stalked past her, his shiny leather boots emphasising power with every stride that he exaggerated in front of her and the other recruits. She knew, with some kind of smug realisation that she didn't even need to put herself forwards for this demonstration. After pacing for so long, Percy would get bored of waiting for a brave young soldier to step forwards, instead he would choose one. She knew which one – her, it was always so. _

_Almost as quickly as she had thought it, his eyes fell upon her. Piercing eyes that held all the power of the corrupt agency that he was running. Back then, Nikita found herself proud of his attentions, perhaps even impressed by the darkness he held within him, the cool resolve that was almost as unwavering as Amanda's. With a curt nod, she pushed her slightly-shorter dark locks from her face, stepping forwards._

"_Perhaps you'd like to demonstrate Nikita? You're one of the most skilled here with a firearm, lets see if you can learn a life lesson." Percy's voice, as ever, was cold and demanding, yet reassuring to the young ears before him. He waved a hand towards Nikita's target, beckoning for her to pick up a small-calibre pistol from the table beside her. Usually, the recruits were only allowed to fire shots down the designated firing range, never outside of it's secure walls. They had ear-defenders, goggles, even protective screens to stop one another accidentally shooting each other by mistake. _

_A slight excitement shot through Nikita as she chose her small weapon, equipped with a silencer. She shuddered as she realised the sudden freedom she had just picked up – it was amazing how something so small could hold so much power, make her feel so big in comparison to the world around her. _

"_Now we've taught you how to hit targets from near, and from afar. We've taught you head-shots, chest shots, injury shots and how to go for that important fatal blow." Percy's feet moved him once more as he tore his eyes from Nikita and addressed the small group around him. _

"_Things however, aren't always as smooth as that on missions, some guards and most agents will be wearing this." he beckoned towards the small mechanical dummy a few feet away, "Kevlar – bulletproof clothing." he paused as he continued, looking back to Nikita._

"_Designed to stop the penetration of a bullet and to cushion the momentum, impenetrable, even at point-blank range. What it does not do however, is stop the impact that a speeding bullet can cause. Injuries can still be obtained, through these vests. Broken ribs, blunt force trauma to the upper chest – even death." _

_Nikita looked up to him as he spoke, stepping closer to her until he was almost looking down upon her. She shrunk down into his shadow like the student she was. _

"_This device is fitted with a monitor, acting as a mechanical heartbeat. It records velocity, accuracy and most importantly impact. Shooting a man in the right spot can cause such a trauma to the heart that it cannot cease to beat. A bullet can be used in many ways, and if no other shot is available, a kill shot can still be performed." _

_He beckoned to Nikita to raise her firearm, walking to the other side of her so she had a clear shot at the target. _

"_It just takes a steady hand..." he whispered, so that his words were only audible to her. _

_She nodded, raising her weapon like she had so many times in that firing range, usually with Michaels guidance beside her. Now, she was suddenly on her own and had the independence that she was long overdue. She fixed her eyes upon the target before her, scanning the machine up and down with a careful gaze. Her eyes fell upon a small blinking red light, beating in rhythm, just as a human heartbeat would. Closing one eye, she took a deep breath, her hands unwavering and still. _

_She felt confident, powerful – alive._

_With no hesitation, she pulled the trigger down hard, effortlessly discharging a muffled bullet from her pistol and watching in satisfaction as the bullet flew straight, exactly towards the point she had been aiming for. It hit the machine before her with a satisfying clunk, made louder by the silence that had befallen the other recruits._

_With a sudden clap of his hands, Percy turned back towards the rest of the class, a smile set firmly across his features – if Nikita had known better, perhaps not been so naïve, she would have seen the evil fire behind his actions. Not today however, today she was proud of the soldier she was becoming. _

"_Now that – that is how to take down a target, even one wearing Kevlar..." he said, his tone final._

_Nikita did not tear her eyes away from the human-shaped target before her, her gun still half raised and a small smirk lighting up the corners of her mouth. Her hazel eyes looked towards where the light had been flashing, red and bright. _

_Now, only the bulb remained, a stark reminder of what would one day be a beating heart – distinguished by a skill-full shot. _

* * *

Today however – Nikita's world fell completely silent.

Everything sound from around her, from the flames licking around her legs to the man stood before her, his hands still clutching her own gun beneath their fingertips were pushed to the back of her subconscious. Instead, her own heartbeat was the only thing she found herself hearing, it's pace quickening in tempo by the breath she was holding in.

For a moment, a horrible few seconds that passed at the speed of days, she found herself completely immobile, the smoke creeping up and around her body like a snake. Her eyes were fixed to her partner, awaiting a steady rhythm of breathing to confirm that she hoped she was very wrong. As every second passed, the sinking feeling within her gained momentum, Alex's eyes remaining closed. It brought her suddenly back to Daniel, the same horrible ice cold shiver shooting down her body, even against the ever increasing heat of the roaring fire around her.

Her mind took her unwillingly back to that day, to when she had found the one person she truly cared about, truly needed, face down in the water. She wasn't going to lose Alex too, not like this.

It wasn't until a flicker of movement from the man next to her graced the corner of her eye, her own weapon being turned towards her menacingly, that she tore her eyes away from Alex's lifeless body.

Sudden anger coursed through her veins as she looked up into his cold eyes – her world exploding back into chaos.

The roar of the fire met her ears once more as she leapt forwards to disengage the threat before her. This time, she sprung from her place with complete accuracy, reaching her target first. She roughly grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip, just behind the butt of his gun. With narrowed, loathing eyes she pulled it upwards, twisting with a slight amount of pressure. It was a move Michael had taught her many years ago when she had been a recruit, designed to bring any man to his knees before her, even one twice her size.

Kneel he did.

With satisfaction, Nikita brought his arm up quickly, forcing her foot down upon his elbow joint hard as she did so, a slight smirk forming at the corners of her mouth as she felt the bone snap beneath her pressure. The scream of agony that he let out rang in her ears as she moved behind him, placing both hands on each side of his head, roughly twisting his neck further than it should go. With an almighty crack, one that rattled through her fingertips, his burly neck snapped and he fell, face-first into the smoke below.

Nikita wasted no time staring down at his corpse, she panted out the breath she had been holding as a big portion of the kitchen ceiling fell, it's structure weakened by the blaze. She found herself covering her head in reflex as it's decent was stopped by the worktop beneath it, sending a cloud of dust up around the room.

The house was crumbling and she needed to get them out of here.

That's when she turned her attentions back to Alex, it was when the anger faded back to panicked concern. Without thinking, her feet carried her forwards until she was skidding to a halt next to Alex's lifeless form. If Nikita hadn't known a little better, the young Russian would have just looked as if she was sleeping, her light brunette hair falling almost perfectly across one side of her face. Nikita found herself brushing it backwards as she dropped quickly to her knees and raised a hand to check for any signs of a pulse.

"Alex, come on Alex..." she whispered, placing her fingers to the other girl's pale skin. Pressing down lightly upon her neck, she scrunched her stinging eyes tightly as her touch felt nothing, no sign of any kind of heartbeat.

"No, no... Don't do this to me Alex, I cant lose you too. I wont lose you." Nikita couldn't help but hear the quiver in her own voice as she tried to think logically. She had to get them out of here first, before anything else.

Brushing her emotions to one side, she hastily straightened up, coughing to clear her lungs of their fog-like substance. The smoke had darkened, it's hold had become more choking, more claustrophobic. The kitchen around them seemed smaller somehow because of it's death-like hold.

She quickly grabbed Alex under the arms, trying to haul as much of her limp body off the floor as she could. Alex was no longer the thirteen-year old that she had once rescued, Nikita found herself unable to lift her entire weight, instead she found herself dragging her partners body as quickly as she possibly could towards to doorway.

She coughed once more at the sudden effort, blinking back tears as her eyes streamed and her nose ran, trying to clear her system of all of it's smoke.

When her back pressed against the back door, the one she had used earlier to enter the house, she hauled as much as she could until it swung backwards and she and Alex stumbled out into the open air. To her weary lungs, the sudden assault of fresh air was like breathing for the first time. It washed a clear feeling through her, like she had just woken up from being drugged.

Dragging Alex further backwards, she quickly collapsed onto the cool grass below, it's touch instantly soothing her burning skin.

For a minute, she just wanted to lay still, the welcome oxygen washing tiredness through her. Her muscles felt like they had seized, like they needed oil to function but she forced her body to move once more, pushing the aches and pains to the back of her mind. Out here, her head throbbed from where she had been struck, the oxygen also returning a painful sensation to her body.

Sliding herself out from underneath the dead weight of Alex's body, she was quickly on her knees once more, moisture from the lawn below seeping through her jeans and down to the skin below. She paid no heed to to cool water, instead she placed both shaking hands on the side of Alex's head, trying to push the irrational thoughts running through her mind away. Alex had no heartbeat, she had no pulse to feel. With the same shaking hands, she pulled the front of Alex's pinstriped clothing apart, applying enough force so that the buttons popped from their threads. She breathed in a sigh of relief when her eyes fell upon the Kevlar beneath, to the bullet lodged perfectly in it's hard surface.

Alex always wore her bulletproof armour – just like Nikita had taught her.

Nikita quickly tore the Velcro straps from across her shoulders, releasing the armour and revealing just a small tank top beneath. Placing her hands above the younger girls heart, she tried her hardest not to notice the pale colour Alex's skin had become as she started chest compressions. She was no stranger to CPR, Division had taught her not only to take life, but on the rare occasion how to save it as well.

This time however, it wasn't some test dummy that she was practising on. This was the real deal, she was the only person that could get Alex breathing again. She was the only person that cared whether or not Alex breathed again. She blocked out everything else as she desperately worked, ignoring the ever increasing sound of sirens creeping closer and closer. Every time she pressed her hands down hard upon Alex's chest, she cringed at the impact she was causing. Her hands would, undoubtedly, leave perfect bruises across the other girls pale skin. The crackle of flames behind her grew ever louder, the heat intensifying across her back and making her wish she had dragged them a little further away from the fire. She didn't get time to look back at the burning inferno, she focused all of her energy on keeping a steady rhythm, the rhythm of an artificial heartbeat.

Dipping her head down, she ceased her compressions, tipping Alex's head slightly backwards so she could lightly pinch the younger girls nose and drop her lips down against hers, gently exhaling, trying so desperately to inflate the young Russians lungs with air. The impact of the bullet had been enough to jump Alex's heart into ceasing to beat, that and the combination of all the smoke she had breathed in wasn't helping either, her own lungs even burned with all the hammer they had received.

"Alex. Don't. Do. This. Please..." she found herself panting, through gritted teeth upon every compression. To tell the truth, she wasn't sure when the last time had been that she had felt so scared. She could stare point-blank down the barrel of a gun and feel nothing, but when it came to something like this – to losing Alex, she wasn't sure quite how to cope. She would take physical pain any day.

She continued to press down, her desperation becoming apparent in how hard her compressions had become. It felt like an eternity to her, kneeling next to her partner, unsure if Alex would even respond, even if she would try to respond. So when she felt something beneath her fingertips, something that beat against her palms in a relatively uneven manner she found her own heart fluttering. Quickly ceasing CPR she let her hands hover against the younger girl's chest, just to confirm what she thought she had felt, hardly daring to breathe herself.

Her heart skipped even harder at the steady rise and fall rhythm of Alex's chest.

* * *

She couldn't quite decide whether the feeling running through her body was a good thing or not. On the upside, she could indeed feel every part of her body. On the downside, not every part of her body felt as if it was healthy.

The first thing that she could recall was a hard surface beneath her back, a nice cool one. To her hot skin, it felt like an ice cold shower on a hot-summers day, refreshing and welcomed. Her eyes felt heavy, almost as if she had been sleeping for too long and they resisted opening, an aching feeling shooting through her body as if she had just run a marathon. A strange pain resided heavy against her chest, a bruised feeling almost as if someone was pressing down upon her ribcage too hard.

Even before she opened her eyes, a dull ache was already shooting through her head and she knew as soon as she sat up, a horrible dizzy feeling would overcome her.

Taking in a breath, her eyes shot open as her throat restricted, causing her to sit up quickly to try and get air into her empty lungs. She felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her body as she sat vertical, letting out a series of choking coughs as she did so. She felt claustrophobic, her body twitching in panic as the smoke refused to shift from her airway.

"Alex, you're alright I've got you." she heard a soft voice whisper into her ear as she latched onto it's speaker tightly, trying her hardest to take in some oxygen. She couldn't remember what had happened. She could remember fighting in the kitchen with one of the guards, but after that her mind was blank.

As her limbs began to tremble, she felt the arms wrap a little tighter, skilled hands running small circles down her spine in an effort to calm her down, another hand brushing lightly through her hair. Nikita's voice was calming as she spoke softly into her ear and Alex leaned a little closer, almost returning the embrace that Nikita was giving her.

When her heartbeat had began to slow, oxygen returning to her limbs and restoring a little stability to her body, she pulled away from her mentor and forced her eyes back towards the burning building. Her baby blue's widened at the smoke plummeting into the sky around them, driven upwards by the inferno that they had managed to miraculously survive.

Looking at the bright white heat before her caused everything to come rushing back. She had seen the weapon, seen the guard take up aim before her, but her feet had rooted her to the spot. The fire around her had been immobilising and she had nowhere left to run. She had seen, almost in slow motion, Nikita diving for the man in a ditch attempt to force the gun from his hands. She could even faintly remember the bullet being dispensed from it's chambers, all before her world had gone completely black.

She should have been dead.

Turning back to Nikita, she couldn't help but keep the look of shock written across her face. Nikita had gotten her out, gotten them to safety. For the second time in a week, her mentor, her partner, had saved her life. She felt a flicker of emotion at the worried expression on Nikita's face, the older woman's arms still holding her upper body tightly, offering her support. Alex looked into those hazel eyes, seeing the tears swimming beneath.

"Alex – you're alive." Nikita whispered, relief and almost disbelief ringing in her voice.

Alex nodded, taking in another breath simply to make sure she wasn't dreaming all of this, that she truly was indeed living. Her reply was somewhat hazy, her voice crackly and unwilling to adjust to any kind of reassuring tone, but confirming that she was very much alive.

"Yes..." she stammered, just as surprised herself. "Yes I am..."


	9. New Opportunities

**Wow, Hey guys. **

**It's been a really long time huh? Yeah, I'm sorry about that it's been a rough couple of months down here. I was going to post you up a chapter near Christmas but I hit some complications to do with my accident and found myself back in surgery - Long story and not such a pleasant one at that! So thank you all for your well wishes and reviews on the last chapter, I will get round to thanking you all personally I just wanted to get this chapter finished and to you ASAP. **

**I'm also working on another story, a request from a friend so I will also be posting that up very soon too. **

**On with the story – enjoy. **

**XX**

* * *

For a minute, she found herself increasingly wary of letting go. Even though the grass beneath her body was damp and her lungs still burned with the reminiscent of smoke, she found some comfort in the rather erratic breathing of the girl leant carefully against her chest.

The sirens had gotten closer and their skin had become increasingly hotter, the house before them now a white blazing inferno. She knew that they had to move, before the authorities turned up. Too many questions would be asked if they were taken to hospital, too many questions that she didn't know the answer to – that she couldn't answer.

"Alex, come on, we have to move." she whispered, her throat still hoarse. She looked around as she spoke, the wood panel-fences around the back of the house were high, but she could still see several eyes peering out of upstairs windows at the burning building.

Reluctantly, Nikita un-looped her arms from around Alex's waist, staggering to her feet. Carefully, she helped the other girl off the ground too, offering herself as a leaning post. Alex was unsteady on her feet, the oxygen her body had been screaming for only returning slowly, adrenaline had yet to return to her limbs. Nikita wrapped an arm securely around the young Russian's shoulders, giving her a little more support. She tried to ignore the fact that Alex's hot skin was shaking – through shock no doubt.

Alex was still unsteady on her feet, but Nikita managed to gently pull her forwards, stumbling herself across the damp grass. She could see the sirens now, fire engines roared to a halt outside the front of the residence – if she was right, and she knew she was, Division agents would soon be following behind waiting to purge any survivors.

"Alex, hurry – come on." she pushed gently, hoisting the girl next to her further onto her feet. She knew Alex was about drained, her own muscles screamed out with fatigue, but Alex's heart had stopped beating momentarily, she knew what that felt like – so had hers. It had been a feeling of fear that even the burning inferno couldn't have ensued in her.

Her car was just around the corner, she needed to get Alex back to the safe-house.

"Nikita, stop!"

A familiar voice from behind her forced her feet to stop her in her tracks, ceasing Alex abruptly too. If her heart hadn't been beating wildly before, it was now.

She slowly turned her body around, struggling to keep the girl next to her upright. She didn't have time for complications.

"Put the gun down!"

She looked down to her waist, to where the guard's weapon still held securely in her belt holster. With a shaking hand, she reached down and grabbed the hilt, pulling it from her belt and throwing it violently to the floor, before raising the same hand in defence. She looked up to the man before her, her eyes almost pleading. The gun pointing at her was unwavering – and Michael's expression was unreadable.

"Michael wait..." she whispered, her eyes darting to the road, where the fire crews were desperately unravelling hoses to try and get the blaze under wraps. For now, they were too focused on the fire, but it wouldn't be long before they were noticed.

"How is that possible?" he asked, his expression changing to one of slight surprise. He nodded towards Alex, shaking his gun to emphasise his point.

"How is she alive?"

"Michael please, there's no time to explain." Nikita pleaded, if there was one thing she had learnt, it was that the man before her still cared. He cared about her and perhaps at that moment in time, he cared more about Alex. She just hoped she was right.

"You know I cant let you go." he whispered as she looked back towards the road, to where her car was waiting. It's silver bonnet was almost consumed by smoke as the water from the hoses forced more up into the air and the wind blew it towards them. She coughed, her already stinging lungs protesting to more choking black air.

"You have your orders, I know." she said quickly, using her free hand to loop Alex's arm across her shoulders, trying to distribute her increasing weight a little more. She didn't know how much longer Alex could hang onto consciousness.

"But think about this for a minute, they think she's dead right? Her heart stopped beating so her tracker should have stopped too, Percy wont be able to use her kill-chip any more..."

"That doesn't matter, I still have the order to kill _you_." Michael said, cutting her short, perhaps hanging onto his gun a little tighter.

"Put that aside – Michael, think about Alex. I have to get her somewhere safe, away from where Division can find her. Are you really willing to pull the trigger now that she's free and clear? I know you don't want that, so please just let me get her out of here." Nikita asked, her voice becoming more desperate.

"I'll take her back to Division, to the infirmary..." he argued, perhaps he would be able to convince Percy that she was a good agent, that she was worth fighting for. He didn't want to lose her like he had lost Nikita all those years ago.

"You know that will never work. Michael, they will have a bullet waiting for her at the gate. This was all a set up, I know that now. Percy knows who she is right?. They'll kill her on sight and you know I'm not wrong." Nikita's voice had turned a little harsher, she had to get through to him. "You can hunt me but please, don't take this out on her, you don't want to see Alex get hurt and neither do I."

She took a step backwards, Michael taking a step forwards to compensate.

"What do you expect me to tell Percy when the cleaners don't find her body? Or yours?" he asked quickly, but she could see a faint hesitation in his step, hear the quiver in his voice.

"Look at that place, there will be nothing left to find – nothing to clean." she nodded towards the fire.

"Just tell him what he thinks he already knows; that we died in that house." she took a step backwards again and this time, Michael did not follow suit.

"Please, let me make sure she's safe." she whispered.

Michael put a hand to his ear quickly, dropping his gun down away from her. Nikita breathed a quick sigh of relief, wishing she hadn't when Michael's expression turned to one of worry.

"Alright, Division back up is on the way – you don't have much time." he nodded towards her car quickly, re-raising his gun but not training it onto either of them.

"Thank you.." she whispered, as he gave her a curt nod. She saw his eyes fall across Alex, a compassion in his eyes that she had only ever seen when he had looked at her, taking in the cuts and bruises that she sported and the steady trickle of blood that ran from her hand to the grass below. He also ran his eyes over the cut on Nikita's head, not letting it go unnoticed before nodding towards their getaway vehicle.

"Take care of her – Go!" he said quickly, turning his back and leaving the escape route open for her. She saw him raise a hand back to his communications device, no doubt to tell Percy that there was no sign of either her or Alex. She was right, beneath that hard exterior, behind the loyalty to Division, Michael still cared. He still fought for the people that he loved – that he had once loved and she knew he was still a good man, he just believed Percy's lies.

"Come on Alex, lets go." she said quickly, taking the opportunity to turn her back on the fire and stumble down the pavement towards the car. She placed her hands against the silver paintwork to steady them before wrenching open the passengers side door and gently helping Alex into the car, slamming the door quickly behind her.

As she ran around the front, she could see unmarked black trucks screeching down the street behind them, slamming their brakes on and forcing the cars to a halt not far from the burning house. She wasted no time studying what she knew were Division vehicles. Instead, she threw herself into the drivers side, turning the key that she had left waiting in the ignition and selecting the gear she needed quickly.

With a quick glance over, she saw that Alex had finally succumbed to unconsciousness, mentally and physically drained from what had happened. In that moment she felt a sense of urgency, of protection that she always felt when the other girl was around.

Slamming her foot down on the accelerator, Nikita allowed the cars wheels to scratch at the tarmac below before it finally got traction and left the scene of utter chaos in her drivers side mirror...

* * *

The first recollection that greeted her was a strong smell of antiseptic and quite a bright light shining above her.

It was followed closely by a familiar pounding in her head, before the rest of her body caught up to the pain. Opening her eyes, she found herself blinking in the light of what resembled a lamp, shining nearly directly above her.

"Careful, don't try and sit up."

Her eyes quickly darted to the left, falling across the worried expression on Nikita's features. That's when she looked around her, pleased to find that they were back at the loft, back at the only safe place she knew. She let out a slight breath of relief, letting her head gently fall back down onto the pillow below it. She was laid on the bed, with Nikita sitting on it's edge, a sight that seemed all too familiar these days.

She looked down at her hand as a sharp stinging shot through it. Pulling it backwards she grimaced as Nikita kept hold, pouring a cold liquid across her skin. She knew by the pain and a new burst of antiseptic smell that it was to sterilise the wound the bullet had caused; It still hurt like hell though.

"You know, this was much easier when you were unconscious." Nikita whispered, her expression unwavering and her eyes never leaving the job at hand. She had already stitched where the bullet had passed through – it was a nasty wound but a safe through and through. She just wanted to make sure it didn't get infected. It would restrict Alex for a little while anyway, she wanted to strap it up until she was happy it was on the mend.

She was glad that she had managed to get the suturing done before Alex had woken up. It still wasn't pleasant, but she felt considerably less guilty than when she had stitched the younger girl's side.

"You remember what happened?" Nikita asked, reaching to table next to her, to where a small silver tray balanced precariously, assisting her temporarily as a medical tool-kit.

"Yea..." Alex begun to speak but quickly stopped as a searing sensation shot through her throat, restricting her speech. She instantly tensed up, coughing involuntarily which seemed to make the situation worse. Tears came to her eyes immediately and Nikita placed a swift hand on her shoulder. Letting go of her hand, the older woman reached for a pre-poured glass of water, raising it to the other girls lips gently.

"Here, this should help." she said quietly as Alex took a sip, her throat instantly freeing up. Nikita had forgotten that her throat would be sore from all the smoke inhalation.

"Better?" she asked, placing the glass back down. Alex nodded, rubbing at her throat a little. Even through Nikita's protests, she pushed herself up slightly so that she wasn't laid so flat.

"A little." she croaked, her voice still a little crackly. She looked the other woman up and down carefully, noticing that typically Nikita had done nothing for her own head, where Alex could still see a small amount of crimson.

"Some bits are still groggy, but I remember going into the kitchen. The guard grabbed me and I couldn't shake him off..." She furrowed her brow in confusion as she tried to remember more.

"I remember getting free, and him pulling a gun – but after that everything's a little hazy..."

Nikita nodded, staying quiet.

"Actually, I don't remember anything after that." Alex stated, looking back up at Nikita. "What happened, how did we get back here?" she asked, suddenly very confused.

"Don't worry, your trackers offline." Nikita stated, reaching for a small white bandage to wrap up Alex's hand with.

"What do you mean offline? You mean you've made it look like I'm in my apartment?..." Alex murmured, stopping to think for a moment, her heart skipping a beat.

"Wait!" Won't Percy be expecting me to de-brief? The mission was a failure, there were no weapons..." that's when she really looked up confused.

"The mission was a set up Alex, they know everything." Nikita said, stopping what she was doing to look down at the younger woman and sigh.

"They know who you are, that your working with me. Division set off the charges you were supposed to use to torch the house and they did it while we were still in there – they were trying to kill the both of us."

"Then why aren't they looking for me?" she said quickly, sitting herself further up.

"Your tracker, it's not saying your in your apartment, it's offline completely." Nikita replied, getting up off the edge of the bed and slightly pacing next to it. How was she supposed to tell Alex that she had died? She was confused enough as it was.

"I thought the tracker was online as long as I was still alive. Doesn't it read a heartbeat?..." She looked up to where Nikita was now pacing faster, her arms crossed in front of her nervously.

"That's just the thing. I nearly lost you Alex, for a moment there I thought I had." Nikita stopped her walking to come back closer to Alex's recruit bed.

"What are you talking about, I'm right here." Alex whispered, as Nikita took her good hand in her own.

"He shot you Alex – the guard, he shot you. I didn't know what to do, what to think. For a minute there, I felt completely helpless." She squeezed the younger woman's hand tighter as her voice choked up. Not due to any smoke damage, just giving in to the wild emotions swirling through her body. She still couldn't believe how close she had come to losing the other girl.

"We were taught, back in training when I was just a recruit, how to take a shot through Kevlar so accurate that it could stop a heartbeat." she paused for a minute, seeing the gun fire all over again. Alex had been like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, frozen to the spot as that bullet sped towards her and Nikita just couldn't shake that thought from her head.

"That's how I knew that the mission was a set up, because only Division recruits would have known how to take that shot. That guard Alex, he was an agent. That shot stopped your heart from beating. Your tracker no longer works because you were classed as deceased..." she took a breath after she spoke to try and get her emotions back in check.

"Division think that your dead – that we both are, they think we died in that fire."

"Wait. What?" Alex asked, her mouth staying slightly open. Nikita just told her that she was dead but how was that possible? She was here, still breathing.

"I've never been so scared. Alex when I thought I couldn't bring you back, I didn't know what to do. I had to keep trying." Nikita whispered, gently brushing back Alex's brunette locks. Noting the still confused expression that her partner wore.

"Wait, I died, and you brought me back?" Alex confirmed, still shocked as to what Nikita had just told her. The older woman nodded grimly. "And that de-activated my tracker?"

Nikita nodded again, swallowing the lump in her throat before she could speak. Alex was taking this surprisingly well, either that or she was just too shocked to ask questions.

"Yes, your free Alex. They think your gone and only Michael knows that your not."

"Michael knows I'm alive?" she asked quickly, her mind shooting back to the mission briefing. Michael was supposed to be there for support, to help if anything went wrong. Aside from her, he was the only other person with the trigger to the charges in her briefcase... That's when another realisation struck her.

"Nikita – if Michael knows I'm alive, Percy will too." she said quickly, her pulse quickening. "He wants me dead..."

"No Alex, Michael let us go, he let me get you out of there." Nikita replied, puzzled.

"He tried to kill the both of us. Nikita – he was the only other person that could have blown that briefcase, he had the second trigger."

"What are you saying?" Nikita whispered, letting go of the other girls hand.

"I'm saying that this was Michael, he must have known that the whole thing was a set up. He was the one that gave me my communications device and he was the only one that could have been conversing with Percy." Alex said, her voice harsher. She had thought she could trust him, in fact aside from Nikita, she thought Michael was the only one on her side in Division. She guessed she had been wrong.

"Listen, he was the one that let us go, he saved our lives." Nikita argued, standing back up. She had seen the look in his eyes when she pleaded to let him and Alex go. It hadn't been an act, he truly cared what happened to them.

"_You_ saved my life, not him." Alex whispered, she caught the blank expression on Nikita's face. It was a cross between confusion and the want to believe that Michael meant well. Why couldn't she see that he had followed orders and nearly killed the both of them? Hell, his actions _had_ killed her, albeit briefly.

"Either way it doesn't matter, the Michael I saw didn't want us dead. He was telling Percy that we died in that house and he was relieved that we hadn't. If he did pull that trigger, it wasn't through choice." she took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter now. Alex, your free. You can leave all of this behind you and get out, its a way out of Division."

Alex shook her head violently, causing Nikita to cross her arms once again.

"No, I'm not running." she whispered, swinging her tired legs sideways off the bed and quickly being stopped from standing up by Nikita's hand on her shoulder. The older woman sat back next to her, not liking the look Alex was giving her.

"You cant go back, not now. They think your dead." Nikita said quickly, dismissing the idea. She wasn't going to let Alex walk back into a building full of people that held a loaded gun, with a bullet designed specifically for her.

"Exactly." Alex replied, giving Nikita a quick bump on the shoulder with her own. "We have the element of surprise."

"Inside Division, the element of surprise doesn't help. They have and army of loyal soldiers Alex and all of them wont hesitate to kill you, you know that." Nikita shook her head. Perhaps Alex had hit her head somewhere as well.

"Perhaps, but we have a back-door in remember?"Alex argued. This fight was still within reach, Nikita still wanted to take down Division and she still needed revenge for her parents murders. What better time to strike was there?

"They wont be expecting me and they wont be able to track my movements any more..."

"Look, even if we were going to do something we still need a plan. We cant just go in blindly and besides your in no fit state to go anywhere – especially not Division." Nikita argued, gently pushing Alex back down so that she could continue to bandage her hand. She had nearly lost her once today, and twice this week – she wasn't going to let it happen a third time.

"Your so stubborn!" Alex growled, albeit light-heartedly. Perhaps Nikita was right, they needed to think this through beforehand.

"Where do you think you get it from?" Nikita asked, letting the corners of her mouth form into a small smile. She looked up, giving Alex a raised-eyebrow expression. The other girl snorted, shaking her head.

"Yeah right, that and other things..."

"I'm serious Alex. I wont lose you, I nearly have too many times..." Nikita whispered, her hazel eyes boring into Alex's blue ones. Alex swallowed, the expression on Nikita's face was serious enough.

"You won't, I'm not going anywhere." she reassured, giving the older woman's hand a quick squeeze.

"At least not today..." she winked lightly, earning herself a stern look before Nikita rolled her eyes.

"Not today..." she repeated, more to herself than the older woman. She felt Nikita's hand lightly brush over her cheek and she took it in her own gently, giving it a squeeze.

She was still here, and from what she had heard of today, that was a miracle in itself.

Tomorrow however – tomorrow was another fight.


	10. New Intel

**Ooh wow...**

**Uhh, Hi guys! Now, before you shoot me and all for being away for such a long time I want to apologise. I've had a lot on my plate recently with different complicated surgeries and things that generally just got in the way of life, like a verrrrry slow recovery process! I'm sorry that I promised an update and never got around to it, it seems that I wasn't quite as healthy as I thought after my accident and it's been a long slow process getting better. **

**I think it's safe to say that I'm almost there...**

**As such, I've not really been keeping up with the new episodes of Nikita so I'm quite clueless as to what is actually going on (They don't let me watch that sort of stuff in hospital!) But I'm free and clear now and will soon be catching up with everything! **

**Anyway, here is the long awaited update to "False Pretences". For those that are interested the update is also coming your way for "Finding Home".**

**Enjoy.**

**XX**

* * *

"Nikita? What's going on?" Alex stepped curiously towards her mentor, rubbing carefully at the bandages that still covered her strapped-up gun hand.

Nikita had forced the younger girl to place her arm in a temporary sling, which was neither comfortable nor particularly helpful to the healing process, it just proceeded to make her shoulder go dead at different intervals. Nikita was adamant, much to her protest, that she needed to keep it as still as possible so she didn't manage to injure it further - Being unable to use her limb was driving Alex rather insane.

She looked on in puzzlement as Nikita threw a weapons bag lightly over her lithe shoulder.

"Are we going somewhere?" Alex asked curiously, raising an eyebrow slightly at the other woman.

"I am – you're staying here on this one Alex." Nikita replied, focusing on what supplies she needed to take with her.

"I've received some Intel on a possible location of another black box." Nikita did not look up as she spoke, she just continued to bury her head and busy herself in what she was doing, stuffing all the relevant equipment into small webbing carry-sacks in front of her. Alex furrowed her brow harder, Nikita usually travelled as light as possible, unless she was going overseas for a period of time.

Alex hugged her free arm around her waist, shivering. The loft could be relentlessly cold in the mornings and this morning was no exception. At the revelation of her own chilliness, she noticed that Nikita was preparing warm clothing.

"How do you have Intel on a box when I'm not inside any more?" she asked quietly, knowing that Nikita always seemed to have ways and means of receiving such information. She seemed to be able to come up with important revelations just when they needed it the most – like info on another black box.

Generally, the other woman liked to keep herself to herself – especially when it came to her feelings. She just shrugged things off and avoided them until she really had to talk and then she liked to keep things as brief as she possibly could – professional even. It was only when she was really tested that a more open, compassionate side to her raised it's head. Like what had happened on the last mission, it had been a worried, caring side to Nikita that Alex wasn't sure she had ever seen so strong before. It was then that Alex realised that they had never really talked about what happened since the fire, and knowing Nikita, it would be a subject that she gladly avoided.

Noticing that the assassin had not answered her question, Alex shifted her weight onto the other foot, moving slightly more into Nikita's line of vision and gently spoke her name as a reminder.

"Nikita..."

"Owen." Nikita stated, finally stopping what she was doing to look up at Alex. "He's been trying to track down the other guardians for a while and has finally come up with a lead. It seems Percy has guardians spread as far out as Siberia." she added the last bit somewhat glumly. It seemed they always had to travel somewhere cold, why they just couldn't visit a warm climate she never knew.

"Ahh, hence the warm clothing." Alex nodded towards one of the small overnight bags, emphasising the look of reluctance on Nikita's face.

"Hmph, it still can't be quite as cold as in here though. Seriously, we need to invest in some heating." Alex said sarcastically, rubbing her free hand up and down the other.

"You're still cold?..." Nikita asked, eyeing up Alex's arm carefully. She gently straightened up and walked forwards, unexpectedly taking the other girl by surprise and pressing a somewhat warm hand to her forehead. Alex brushed her off quickly, slightly annoyed and murmuring something about 'fussing'. Nikita had been unknowingly fussing over her more than she normally did after the gone-wrong mission.

"Nikita I'm fine, you're just superhuman or something." She huffed, lowering Nikita's hand back down roughly.

"You want to keep an eye out for infection in that..." Nikita still didn't sound convinced. Because of everything in Alex's past, she had to be careful of any medication that Alex could potentially become addicted to, even when it came to antibiotics. So far, they had been lucky and keeping her hand as surgically clean as possible seemed to be doing the trick.

"It's fine Nikita, stop worrying." Alex grumbled.

"I can't help it – someone's got to look out for you." Nikita flashed her a small smile before turning back to the job at hand.

"You should let me come with you, you know what happened the last time you tried to take a guardian down by yourself..." Alex proposed, this time it was her voice that rang with worried tones. She instantly knew what the answer would be. Even though Nikita often flew solo on her missions, Alex still felt uncomfortable that her mentor would be halfway across the world.

"I won't be by myself. Owen's already over there and I'm going to rendezvous with him as soon as I get ground side." She stated. Somehow, she knew Alex was going to put up a bit of a fight about this one. She was planning on leaving silently, with just a note to tell Alex where she had gone, but the younger girl hadn't slept for as long as she was hoping. She was going to cut out the arguments and explanations completely, or at least aim to. It never seemed to happen that way though.

"Even so, I'm sure a bit of extra back up couldn't hurt, you know - an extra pair of eyes?" Alex said quickly, Nikita trying to cut her off mid sentence.

"Alex..."

"What do you expect me to do, sit here and wait patiently while your out there risking your neck?" Alex raised her voice slightly, she knew it wouldn't do her much good. Both women had a stubborn streak but when it really came down to the nitty-gritty it was always Nikita's voice that would give the final order. That's just how it was.

"I can't risk Division finding out that your alive." Nikita sighed, she was really trying to avoid this argument.

"If Percy's gone to so much trouble to hide this guardian half way around the world, there are bound to be lots of other agents there as back up too – if any of them were to spot you, Percy wouldn't stop until he tied up loose ends. He would know that Michael helped us to escape..." she added the last bit to the end of her sentence, it wasn't just their lives on the line here.

Alex snorted sarcastically, her voice turning bitter.

"Michael doesn't care what happens to us, as long as Percy's dirty work gets done, he's happy." Alex couldn't help but speak a little harsher than she had intended. Even with Nikita's beliefs, she still couldn't bring herself to trust her former Division trainer.

"Alex, we've been through this." Nikita raised her voice sharply, her commanding voice ending the argument before it had time to flare up once more.

"It's a simple mission, me and Owen will be in and out before you even notice I'm gone, before Percy has a chance to know we are there. It will be a couple of days – tops." she said, her tones softening once more. She hated leaving things on a bad note between her and Alex, it was just another thing to distract her from her mission and if there was one thing that was constantly playing on the back of her mind, it was Alex.

"I still don't like it." Alex stated, letting her gaze drop from the raven-haired woman before her to the stained floorboards below.

"Like what?" Nikita asked, pausing once more. Her eyes were still transfixed on Alex, even if the young Russian wasn't looking up at her.

"This, all of it..." Alex raised her injured hand and nodded towards it for emphasis as she spoke, "I vowed to help you take down Division, now I have to sit on the sidelines while you fly half way across the world, wondering if your ever going to come home from these missions – it just feels wrong!" Alex was trying her hardest to keep the emotion from her voice as she spoke, turning her back when her tones quivered. She knew that she couldn't keep the feelings from showing in her baby blue eyes, which she could feel stinging with the onset of tears.

She hated this, the responsibility of everything always seemed to come back round to Nikita.

"Alex, listen to me." Nikita stepped forwards so that she was closer to the younger girl, her footsteps echoing around the nearly empty loft they called home.

"It's just this one mission – I can't go out there knowing that I could be walking you straight into danger. Your off their radar, your out Alex, Division cant hold on to you any more. What happened in that house, I can't let it happen again..."

Alex made to move forwards, further away from the other woman but Nikita stopped her with a quick, yet gentle hand to her shoulder.

"I _can't_ lose you Alex, I'm not prepared to risk it, to risk _you_." she whispered, her own voice wavering.

"You wouldn't lose me..." Alex said quietly, turning around to face her mentor. Nikita's hazel eyes rung with silent emotion and she shook her head, her eyes telling her she was sorry. Alex knew that all Nikita wanted to do was to keep her safe, but she felt the same way and she didn't want to see Nikita get hurt because she wasn't there to help when she was needed.

"I can't take that risk Alex – not with you." Nikita repeated, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes pleading now. "I need you to stay here – please." She reached out both hands to lay them gently on Alex's upper arms.

Alex knew that once Nikita's mind was made up, nothing was going to convince her otherwise. This was an argument that she was never going to win.

Admitting defeat, she nodded glumly.

"Alright – but you need to be careful. I want you to check in as often as possible you hear?" Alex stated, her voice serious. Nikita laughed half-heartedly at her words, pulling her into a quick embrace before turning away to pick up the other bag she had prepared.

"Anyone would think that you were my mentor, not the other way around." she joked, flashing Alex a smile.

"I'm serious Nikita." Alex scorned. Something still didn't feel quite right to her.

"How much can you really trust this guy?" It was something she had been thinking about a lot recently, who they could and couldn't rely on, ever since what happened with Michael she found herself becoming increasingly wary of those around her. She knew nothing about the former guardian that Nikita trusted so openly.

"Owen?" He's a good guy Alex, a good friend. He wouldn't double-cross me. He wants to see Percy burn just as much as we do, possibly more and getting hold of and destroying the black boxes is our best chance of doing that."

"I just want to make sure he is on the right side – god knows we've been betrayed for less in the past..." Alex whispered, following Nikita towards the loft's door. It amazed her quite how Nikita could be so trusting. So many people in her past had betrayed her, hurt her. Yet here she was, refusing to think the worst of anyone. Through everything that had gone on in her past, the older woman before her still wanted to do the right thing, she thought more about others than she did herself and sometimes, she put herself into danger in the process.

It was something that Alex couldn't help but admire.

"You don't have to worry about Owen, trust me – he's a good ally to have." Nikita paused, pulling open the door whilst juggling the few small bags that she was insistent on taking with her. It was when she turned the handle that she realised she hated just as much leaving Alex behind, as Alex hated being left behind.

"If your planning on leaving the loft remember, try to be subtle – Percy might think your dead but it doesn't hide the fact that he could quite easily figure out that your not. If he does, he wont stop until he finds you, even if he catches wind of what I'm planning on doing to his guardian."

"I know," Alex rolled her eyes at Nikita's words, "Don't tell me your worried about leaving me behind too?" she added sarcastically. Nikita flashed her a smile before moving to close the door behind her.

"I always worry about you Alex." she said, her eyes meeting the younger girls for just a split second longer. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." she said quickly, closing the door behind her and leaving Alex alone in the vastness of the loft.

Alex rolled her eyes, silence quickly creeping over her skin, instantly letting her know she was alone. She shivered once more, pulling her arms back around to hug her body. She made her way over to the computer table, before sighing and taking up residence in the not-so-comfortable desk chair.

"Don't worry," she whispered after Nikita, manoeuvring the mouse so that it was snugly in her left hand, clicking the left button and lighting up the particularly bright computer monitor.

"I won't."


End file.
